Laws requiring civilians to give right of way to curtosey lights

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Bolster on November 8, 2008 at 4:03pm

I think it is a good idea. Anyone who complains about pulling over for a curtosey light hasn't needed help. And hopefully never will, because the next time they don't pull over might be for thier home or love one.

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Permalink Reply by united 289..{Dave} on November 9, 2008 at 9:51am

I don't if it ought to be law or not. I have mix feelings about this subject.

In most cases lights and sirens does not save a hole lot of time. In some cases you need that little bit of time it does save to make a difference in the out come of a call. i.e. Heart attack or code blue. I guess it depends on the nature of call. How far do you have to travel? Whats your driving conditions? Are you in a rural, urban or city? Rather it be a medical call. Is that medical call life threatening? Or does some one need to go to the hospital that might have a broken arm. You certainly don't need to run hot for that. What kind of fire is it? Is it a brush fire? or a structure fire with entrapment? Not saying not to run hot to a brush fire. You just don't need for people to get out of the way as you for the structure with entrapment. I have seen lights and sirens almost cause accidents. Because people by nature will panic not knowing really what to do or how to do it. I am sure you all have seen this. I know I have.

Lights and sirens on personal Vehicles. There is way to many glory hounds out there. You also have those same glory hounds out there in emergency vehicles. This is what concerns me the most about having a law that states you have to give right away. In our state you are asking for the right away. You still have to obey traffic laws. i.e. stop signs, traffic signal. You should all stop or slow way down at all intersection anyway. SOP's says 10 MPH above the speed limit.You have people that plays there radio so loud that they don't hear your sirens. Or just don't care.

I guess my hole point is hear we really don't need that yielding the right away law if we all use common sense in our response.

United

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Permalink Reply by Brett Smith on February 3, 2009 at 12:48am

I think as the public should pull over for us. We need to use a lot of discression when using lights &siren joe public doesent expect a unmarked vehicle to fly up on his ass he is looking for a marked vehicle(police or Fire) not a beat up f-150. when he hears a siren. We as responders should use enough self control to get there and not get tunnel vision and endanger the public or ourselfs.I think it should be up to the dept to dictate when and what type of calls you can run hot to. The botton line is BE SAFE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Permalink Reply by jeremy on February 3, 2009 at 12:58am

i think the public should have to pull over for us because we are going to try and help someone in need and like someone has already stated what if they were the victims would they want people to not pull over and slow us down.

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Permalink Reply by Austin on February 22, 2009 at 1:00am

Here in Delaware they have to or they can get a hefty fine. They also have to yield to right of way to stopped emergency vehicles.

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Permalink Reply by Austin on March 10, 2009 at 12:47am

Let me add that you first must get your cirt. to run blue and white lights.

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Permalink Reply by Asst. 29 on February 23, 2009 at 12:03pm

The key word here is "courtesy" not emergency. I'm very mixed on this subject. Yes I believe in the use of courtesy lights but I also feel that it gives the user in some cases what they think is the right to do and act however they want when actually it is a privilege to have these lights. I feel they are definitely abused.

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Permalink Reply by Abe Winter on March 9, 2009 at 10:56am

that would be great....the problem i have is when we transport a pt. to a hosp.

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Permalink Reply by Kathy Palmer on March 12, 2009 at 12:35am

Some of the guys and gals on my dept think it's just as important to run lights and sirens on ALL calls. I'm sorry, but I just dont think that killing yourself , or someone else,getting to the hunting club that some moron has set on fire is worth it when there's no homes in danger. I've been doing this for 26 years this May, and I really think that people should pull over for us, (ambulance, fire or police), but I also think that we need to learn the diffrence in a true emergency and an excuse for making them pull over just because we can. It had gotten so bad around here that people didn't get out of our way because they was think, oh, Big Track hunting club is on fire again for the 8th time this year. It's kinda like the boy who cried wolf. But nothing makes me madder to have a code in the back of my ambulance or be on the way to a house fire where someone may still be inside and people just dont care enough to move. That law is great, we all need it, and they need it, but WE need to learn when to use it.

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Permalink Reply by John Menchen on March 13, 2009 at 10:24pm

That would kinda change their purpose to "emergency lights" then, wouldn't it?
Volunteer firefighters have it a little easier than their EMS counterparts in New York. Section 1100 states which specific colors may be used by volunteer fire and EMS personnel. For fire, it's blue, for EMS, it's green.
I'm aware that blue is also used by cops in other states: for example, Florida. Thus, the Miami grandmother visiting her family in NY would be accustomed to pulling over for a flashing blue light on top of a car. However, green would mean nothing to her, because (as far as I know) Florida doesn't use green for an accepted color.
There is a discrepancy, though: civilian traffic is not required to pull over for courtesy lights, yet they can only be turned on during an emergency. I pointed this out in a letter to my state rep. in the Assembly (one-half of NY's governing body, along with the Senate--just like the US House of Reps. and the US Senate). She actually responded, stating I made some good points in the letter and that she might introduce such legislation in a future session. I don't know if she ever did or not, but it was an interesting exercise in civics for me.

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Permalink Reply by Padre Pete on March 19, 2009 at 9:17pm

Yo Batman, Here in NY State red lights mean "move over" and blue lights can be used on PVs by Volunteer Firemen as a means to identify them AT THE SCENE so they can be picked out by traffic control people. They do not grant any Emergency status to the vehicle or the user. Thats good. They shouldn't. As long as some of our rookies have that "Yahoo, Its an emergency !!!!" attitude, Joe Citizen's right to the road should not be compronmised be them and they should not be incouraged to exceed limits. It should be an opportunity to learn and exercise the kind of self control expected of them. I understand that, in many major cities, serious restrictions are now placed on emergency traffic. Like obeying red lights and stop signs under any circumstances. Its all about the old CYA plan (liability). Keep the faith.

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Permalink Reply by THOMAS SIMEK SR on March 28, 2009 at 4:45pm

I THINK ITS A GREAT IDEA ONLY PROBLEM IS THAT CIVILIANS DO NOT GIVE RIGHT OF WAY TO EMERGENCY VEHICLES.

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