Drivers need to give emergency vehicles space, rural firefighter pleads
A Facebook post from the Millet Fire Department is getting the kind of attention emergency crews could only wish for when they’re on the road.
The post includes a video shot Wednesday that shows drivers on the QEII south of Edmonton maintaining their speed and not pulling over as a fire truck approaches from behind with lights flashing and siren blaring.
“The video is born out of years of frustration with drivers not knowing what to do,” Millet Fire Department Capt. Trevor Palmer told CBC News on Friday.
“Yes the left lane was wide open and clear and that is where we passed people, but when drivers don’t even touch their brakes or make some sort of an indication that we’re coming around them, we get concerned and that can slow down our response time.”
‘Happens a lot’
What they worry about is a motorist changing lanes into their path. Palmer said that’s what happened moments after the video ended.
“What you don’t see in the video is that 60 seconds later, approximately, a car actually pulled out from the right hand lane into the left and cut us off, and it happens a lot,” he said.
Palmer is asking people to use a little common sense.
“We’re trying to get to somewhere because someone needs us and for us to play the guessing game as to whether or not traffic is going to do something, that could put us at risk or put themselves at risk, that’s a problem for us,” Palmer said.
RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Laurel Scott has also encountered drivers who won’t get out of the way.
She tells CBC News the frustration adds stress to what is already a critical situation.
“We count on the highway users to help keep us safe so that we can do our job and make the people safe who are waiting for us,” Scott said.
The Millet Fire Department says these vehicles failed to pull over for a fire truck en route to an emergency. (Trevor Palmer )
$233 fine
She believes it’s not always a case of unco-operative drivers.
“Sometime I know that people, while they’re driving, they maybe are unaware, distracted, they’re forgetting to check in their review mirror,” said Scott, who reminds motorists that they can be ticketed for the infraction.
“The fine is a $233.” And will cost three demerit points.
Palmer thinks its unlikely the Millet Fire Department would ever pursue charges and that’s why they’re trying to get the message out through social media.
He hopes drivers will look at it from a different point of view.
“We don’t have the time or the resources to be spending driving down the highway writing down licence plate numbers, potentially having to go to court and fight,” he said. “At the end of the day this is more about educating people just to help us out.
“The question we will always ask is … What if somebody that you knew and loved was waiting at the other end of that emergency and the people that need to get there can’t get there?”