Emergency Vehicles & Red Light Cameras . . .

[AnthonyM83]

Standard practice at my company is to shut down if coming to a light with all lanes blocked and you can't oppose traffic. I would think it'd be a liability to force a car into the intersection.

Before I worked in EMS, I would have gone through an intersection of an emergency vehicle, but now I really don't know.

I felt very confused once when driving the ambulance and having a PD unit come racing toward us at a red light. In my personal car, I would have safely run it (it was a crosswalk red light, not intersection, pedestrians had finished crossing). But as an ambulance I didn't know what kind of example to set, but also didn't want to seem like a jerk to the police. They ended up passing around us on the right, through a gap.

[Schwaa]

Hook them up to opticom systems?

[tskstorm]

well 2 things, here, what we do when we are in the ambulance and another emergency vehicle is traveling the same way we light it up to break up the traffic b4 they get there then we kill the lights and siren after we cleared a path(when possible of coursE)

PD and other ems always returns the love back, FD is the only one who doesn't but they rarely have the opportunity too.

maybe people in ny are more anxious but i could be in the right lane of a 6 lane each direction light and be lights and sirens and cars from every lane will take the light.

[Richard B the EMT]

I don't recall the jurisdiction, or how long ago this reportedly happened, but...

A driver was stopped for the red traffic signal, where the jurisdiction wanted vehicles to stop, when a police car, under lights and siren, pulled in directly behind him.

He was going to make a right turn, anyway, from the right lane where he was positioned, so, with due regard for any other traffic or pedestrians (there was none), he slowly went through the light, and pulled over.

Surprise! The police car pulled up in back of him, and gave him a ticket for going through the red light!

"Your honor, I was fully stopped when the police car came into view, and I yielded right of way to them, as they were travelling at apparent emergency status."

"Guilty as charged! Pay the clerk the cost of the ticket, plus court costs!"

[mrmeaner]

Does it even matter? I was under the impression that if you're running code and get stuck at an intersection like that then the proper action is to shut everything down rather than force cars into an intersection. The 30 seconds you aren't going to save isn't worth the chance of causing an accident at the intersection. Also jumping a median isn't an option with a patient in back.

This should be standard practice IMO. Also a good pitch for selling Opticom.

[FredG]

I think Red Light cameras are more dangerous than any other municipal revenue generator (ahem, I mean "traffic control tool").

In my experience, all of the locals learn where the cameras are and many drivers slam on their brakes when the light turns yellow to avoid a ticket, sometimes causing an accident. Because of this, I think all emergency vehicles need to be extra cautious when approaching an intersection with a red light camera, even when you have the green light.

[AnthonyM83]

The rear endings I've been to have usually had minor to moderate injuries (except on freeway), whereas TCs from running red lights usually had moderate to severe/fatal injuries.

[FredG]

That's an interesting point. Here's a study that compares before and after accident rates at red-light controlled intersections:

http://www.tfhrc.gov/safety/pubs/05049/

The study shows overall expenses due to crashes to be decreased. It also shows that, of the sites studied, there were 379 fewer right angle collisions, but 375 more rear-end collisions. This study also summarized some potential recommendations on placement of red light cameras.

The point I was trying to make is that when responding L+S and approaching an intersection with a red-light camera, emergency vehicle drivers now have to worry about another factor that increases the unpredictability of other drivers.

[altamedic]

Now I know that there are a few towns here that have a red light system that detects the direction on a EV through the use of directional sirens, and changes the Red Light Green, it should help. Now as for Red Light cameras, I dont see why they could not be diactivated using the same technology. Calgary for example I believe uses forward facing stobe lights to help with traffic flow using a similar technology as the siren based system.

[EMT007]

Does it even matter? I was under the impression that if you're running code and get stuck at an intersection like that then the proper action is to shut everything down rather than force cars into an intersection. The 30 seconds you aren't going to save isn't worth the chance of causing an accident at the intersection. Also jumping a median isn't an option with a patient in back.

Yeah that is policy at my department as well. We are told that we cannot (legally) force vehicles to go through red lights. If they move of their own accord, then hey, all the better, but we cannot get on the PA and tell vehicles to move through a red light. However, we do not shut "everything" down when we come up to this type of situation. Rather, we shut down the siren and leave the lights on so that vehicles know that we are still responding to an emergency and that they need to move over as soon as the light turns.