What is it with people who refuse to get out of the way of emergency vehicles? Last night, I attended a class about an hour away from my home. Was supposed to have a meeting with someone before hand over a bite to eat. But that meeting had to be postponed when they ran late in traffic, not arriving until just before class began.
No worries, we decided that we’d have our meeting after, since we were both there and still needed to eat. I selected an establishment I’m familiar with that’s open late and is conducive to meetings. It was less than four miles away.
Onto the freeway we went, following one another in our perspective cars. Things went well for the first mile and then traffic began. Before long, it was so thick that we were thrilled to be crawling at 2-3 mph. The stretch of freeway we were traveling is one where there are very few off ramps. We inched our way past a couple only to then be trapped on the now stopped freeway since the accident was blocking the next off ramp, which we could see about a mile or so ahead of us.
Looking in my side view mirror, I noticed a fire truck attempting to make its way up the emergency lane next to the slow lane. Though its lights were flashing, very few drivers inched over to gain the truck access to pass.
What the heck?
About a mile behind that fire truck, I could see two additional ones also driving on the shoulder. Neither of them was making much progress either. But they had an advantage. They hadn’t yet passed the point of no return where there were no more available off ramps for them to take. After struggling with the traffic for about twenty minutes, the fire truck closest to me finally gave up and turned off its lights. By this time, I had pulled ahead of him, though in the farthest lane over. Looking in my side view mirror, I noticed that the other two emergency vehicles had left the freeway. No doubt, they would use side streets to get to the blocked off ramp up ahead and then back down it to get to where they needed to be.
By the time I managed to crawl past the accident, an hour and a half had passed, me having traveled less than four miles! But I was fine with the delay, knowing that drivers of the tangled mess of more than seven vehicles I passed were having a worse night.
Passing the scene, traffic picked up and I was soon cruising at normal freeway speeds. Leaving the accident behind, I found myself shaking my head, frustrated at the drivers who had refused to get the heck out of the way of the fire trucks so they could get to where they needed to do their job.
Can’t imagine blocking the path of an emergency vehicle. Never have. My thought is to give them as much clearance as possible. Why wouldn’t I? After all, saving them time might be the difference in saving someone’s life.
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