QuestionI am familiar with EVOC and have read through the curriculum and found that some of what this driver did appears to have been incorrect under the circumstances, but I would like your take.
Facts:
Two lane road; 5:30 a.m.; dark. Ambulance transporting person on a non-emergency basis is traveling north. It comes upon another vehicle facing north in a ditch on the left side of the road, meaning the car in the ditch was also traveling north but had swerved across the south-bound lane and into the ditch on that side of the road. Another car traveling north arrived before the ambulance and stopped to help. This car pulled past the accident site, did a U-turn so that it was facing south, and pulled over off the side of the road, facing the car in the ditch. At this point the ambulance pulled up and stopped in the middle of the north bound lane directly across from the car that had stopped to help, leaving only the distance across the south bound lane between them. Ambulance does not turn on any lights, hazard, flashing or otherwise; just headlights which were already on. Nor does ambulance pull up and off road. Ambulance there for few minutes speaking to the driver of the car that stopped to help. Another car traveling south-bound approaches and strikes the man who was next to ambulance talking to ambulance operator. Should ambulance operator have taken safety precautions immediately upon arriving at emergency scene? If so, what would they have been?
Thanks!
AnswerHello Chris and welcome to AllExperts!
I will attempt to answer your questions based solely upon general safety principles and standards, as I do not know their policies and procedures or what State this occurred in and what their vehicle code prescribes.
It appears the patient in the ambulance was in a non-critical state where additional time for his/her transport would not be a problem, and their company policy has no issues with assisting a motorist to ascertain whether they will need help or not. If this is not the case, they were wrong in stopping and should have advised their dispatch to contact law enforcement to ascertain the circumstances. Especially so when they were not being summoned by a frantic citizen who is waving or moving their arms to indicate an emergency.
The only time parking an emergency vehicle into a lane of traffic would be acceptable is to protect those whom you are assisting, to protect on-coming traffic from obstructions, or to enable emergency aid where parking an emergency vehicle anywhere else would be impractical or more unsafe. If this is to be used, the emergency lights definitely should be activated, and traffic devices such as flares, markers or cones should be used to delineate a partial lane closure well before a driver would arrive at the obstruction.
No vehicles should ever be facing the wrong direction with their lights illuminated as this confuses other motorists and can be a causal factor in a collision.
Lastly, when an emergency vehicle does not have its emergency lights activated, it must follow all the rules of the roadway. In this case, it was unlawful to stop in a lane of traffic, to block a roadway, and to create an unsafe condition that could cause an injury or death, as we have seen here.
I hope this has helped Chris. have a great day!
