For contrast: a video of a more congested street in Paris 17 years ago. The situations aren’t completely comparable: bigger emergency vehicle, smaller other vehicles, smaller street with less options to get out of the way, … One other major difference and the reason I’m posting this, is that 30 seconds into the video, you can see that most drivers have moved to the sides of the road AHEAD of the firetruck and that they are holding still while waiting on the firetruck to pass them. The street + path are less than ideal and there isn’t really enough room, so the truck is still not going very fast, but it’s at least able to keep moving. By moving to the sides, the drivers also blocked in that smaller firetruck that was coming from the side street, so that’s going to cause some confusement after the big one has passed.
The reason that that NYC ambulance is completely stuck in traffic, isn’t because of space, because there is plenty compared to that Parisian street, but it’s the drivers who are not creating a path. It’s not an infrastructure problem, it’s something that can be taught + encouraged if there is a political will to make a change.
Distracted drivers are a serious problem in more ways than one. A couple weeks ago I was 2nd in line at a red light, only us 2 in that lane and several more in the other. An ambulance drove up behind us flashing and it was immediately clear the shortest path through the intersection was for our 2 cars to clear out. I put on my hazards and starting alternating lights and horn, while the person ahead sat blithely scrolling through their phone while the ambulance and I were both laying on the horn and didn’t move until the light turned green. Even then, didn’t pull aside so the bus had to weave around him. The lack of situational awareness and empathy on the road is sadly lacking.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hwGd3QWgTLs&pp=0gcJCdgAo7VqN5tD
For contrast: a video of a more congested street in Paris 17 years ago. The situations aren’t completely comparable: bigger emergency vehicle, smaller other vehicles, smaller street with less options to get out of the way, … One other major difference and the reason I’m posting this, is that 30 seconds into the video, you can see that most drivers have moved to the sides of the road AHEAD of the firetruck and that they are holding still while waiting on the firetruck to pass them. The street + path are less than ideal and there isn’t really enough room, so the truck is still not going very fast, but it’s at least able to keep moving. By moving to the sides, the drivers also blocked in that smaller firetruck that was coming from the side street, so that’s going to cause some confusement after the big one has passed.
The reason that that NYC ambulance is completely stuck in traffic, isn’t because of space, because there is plenty compared to that Parisian street, but it’s the drivers who are not creating a path. It’s not an infrastructure problem, it’s something that can be taught + encouraged if there is a political will to make a change.
Distracted drivers are a serious problem in more ways than one. A couple weeks ago I was 2nd in line at a red light, only us 2 in that lane and several more in the other. An ambulance drove up behind us flashing and it was immediately clear the shortest path through the intersection was for our 2 cars to clear out. I put on my hazards and starting alternating lights and horn, while the person ahead sat blithely scrolling through their phone while the ambulance and I were both laying on the horn and didn’t move until the light turned green. Even then, didn’t pull aside so the bus had to weave around him. The lack of situational awareness and empathy on the road is sadly lacking.