[Closed] You may be saving lives but don't block my drive...

Once again, the crown for the 'King of Threads' changes hands in the never ending battle of whatthe****ery, here on Planet STW.

Down our road there is really only a one cars width of space for around 150 houses to get in and out.

Nothing more annoying than an ambulance blocking the road at 7.30 when I have to get out and get to work.

Once they even had the cheek to arrive at 1.00 AM, park right outside my bloody house with lights ablaze. Was like a rave at 1am in the pitch plack, with everybody trying to sleep. Annoyance I tell thee.

Still, got me to resus 17 miles away in under 14 minutes

Emergency services are the one thing nobody has any right to complain about parking. Nothing (in this country anyway) can't be sorted by other means if you happen to be inconveneanced a tad by their parking.

LOL at twonks

If you are on the edinburgh bypass at rush hour and nothing much is moving and lights and sirens appear on the horizon. A miraculous third lane appears harry potter style and the blues flashes power down the road unhindered while traffic trundles on then the gap closes up.

I'd love to see some drone footage of it.

Closely followed by a couple of tailgaters who like to think they can follow in slipstream.

Once again, the crown for the 'King of Threads' changes hands in the never ending battle of whatthe****ery, here on Planet STW.

re the topic: the patient attended to by the ambulance crew died apparently.

Closely followed by a couple of tailgaters who like to think they can follow in slipstream.

Ha i've not seen that to be honest.

Most people seem to have no fight left after the sliproad gauntlet.

A similar thing happens with motorbikes but they get less space.

Edit to not look so callouse.

We live down the road from an old folks home and ambulances are an almost daily occurence, they always manage to park reasonably well, occaisionally on a yellow line, but never seen anything worse.

The police on the other hand seem to find parking quite difficult, have even come home to find a cop car parked on my drive, no note, nothing to explain its presence. A few hours later they'd gone..............

Ghah! Don’t get me started on Tesco Food delivery drivers parking in inconvenient places, bloody nuisance..
Get your own food y’a lazy gits.

You know when you see an opinion poll and you think "who are the self-centred arseholes still voting for [i]X[/i]?" and then you see a story like this and think "oh, those pricks".

So does everyone posting think there are no circumstances whatsoever in which it might be unreasonable for the ambulance to block someone's drive?

(Other than this specific incident).

WEll it should be fairly apparent they're in one of the nearby houses, likely it's going to be one of 2-3. If it's THAT urgent to get out, then can't people just knock on a few doors and have a 15s chat with the Ambulance staff ? I don't see why it's such a complex debate.

What about those stupid ambulances who get all flashy and sireny when you're on a cycle lane and cars pull over to let them past, in the process barging you off the road! Shouldn't the drivers look ahead to check before hitting the woowoo button?

I want to try something here.

Ling Ling Ling.

Lets see if she can liven the debate up a bit.....

Went through a red light so I didn't block in an ambulance - SP10 & 3pts do I get a badge of honour?

do I get a badge of honour

[img] [/img]

Blocking drives, well what about this...

http://www.****/news/article-5076621/Angry-motorists-gives-paramedic-shocking-torrent-abuse.html

FunkyDunc - Member
Blocking drives, well what about this...

http://www.****/news/article-5076621/Angry-motorists-gives-paramedic-shocking-torrent-abuse.html

Totally disgusting, abhorrent and sickening behavior. He should be shot...

...for posting a Daily Mail link on STW.

Hardly the ambulance's fault if someone stops in a stupid place in front.

It's amazing where you see people stop - i can't imagine where they think the ambulance is going to go; well clearly they don't they just stop/ pull over with no sense of surroundings.

Maybe the ambulance parking was inconsiderate; Drivers aren't perfect. Also they get a pass, because of the job: who know's they might just be rushing to get onto something other than parking.

I'm constantly amazed/ dissapointed with peoples self-absorption.

How is anyone meant to make progress these days with ambulance drivers parking their vans left right and center. I don’t know who to blame more, the ambulance driver or the selfish bastard who had a heart attack.

Sooner this government cuts back on these self satisfying do gooders the better.

[s]ambulance driver[/s] paramedics on here

Can I ask about this one - when I am commuting thru town on my bike I often hear sirens before car drivers. When stationary at lights ( I will be right at the front) I will sometime try to give a signal ie waving my arms / putting a hand up in the air to stop all the cars from moving off /across the junction as the ambulances seem to like to approach blocked traffic lights on the wrong side of the road and if the lights go green and cars move off it would make it trickier to get back on the right side of the road. Is this helpful?

waving my arms / putting a hand up in the air to stop all the cars from moving off

Although well intentioned that’s just going to pee drivers off and surly you are distracting them from the road and the ambulance.

No expert but I’d say keep out of it

Aye - terrible the way they abandon those vehicles. A couple blocked my drive and the neighbour's one day.

Still it got them a bit quicker to the roofer who had fallen off my roof and was trying to run out of blood quite quickly. I'm sure he could have waited a bit longer whilst they circled the block a bit - what's half a pint of blood in the scheme of things.

[quote=franksinatra ]Totally disgusting, abhorrent and sickening behavior. He should be shot...
...for posting a Daily Mail link on STW.

It's also already bindun, so no need to follow the DM link:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/i-know-youre-saving-lives-but-dont-block-my-drive/page/2#post-8841329

[quote=penguinni >

br />

[quote=FunkyDunc ]Although well intentioned that’s just going to pee drivers off and surly you are distracting them from the road and the ambulance.
No expert but I’d say keep out of it

Tricky - I can't remember ever having that situation myself, but my inclinations would be similar to tj's - it's difficult to convey the reason accurately though (but in terms of peeing drivers off, only the completely brain dead wouldn't work out why the cyclist was waving at them afterwards). Similarly, but completely different, yesterday I flashed my headlights at cars coming the other way because there was an ambulance behind them - they might have noticed anyway, but I figured it did no harm, and at the worst they might just wake up and notice the sirens and blue lights (all the cars on my side pulling over should also have given a clue - we did successfully leave a decent gap for it where I was).

People don't give a hoot. When a driver right turned on me breaking my spine, I was lying in the middle of the road with paramedics working over me, people were still passing us closely that we were getting splashed. The paramedics went nuts.

the Runcorn Paramedic abuser has apologised just before he was arrested, his company and address has been named on the local papers website as well with some intresting reviews.

Going to be a difficult time for his family.Sadly.

10.4 Parking within areas controlled by double white or yellow lines
10.4.1 Trust vehicles are permitted to park within the controlled area and on the crossing
subject to the vehicle not remaining longer than is necessary, and/or it could not
be parked effectively elsewhere. This exemption is to allow ambulance personnel
to deal with the incident when no alternative parking is available. Drivers are
reminded that there is no exemption for dangerous parking.
10.5 Parking on a footway, verge or central reservation (non fast roads)
10.5.1 Drivers should not park on footpaths unless directed to do so. Where parking
needs to occur, care should be given to ensure pedestrians and wheelchair
users can pass. Care should be taken when moving onto soft ground so as to
not to get the vehicle stuck or to cause damage to it.

The above is guidance given to london ambulance drivers. It seems to be very much common sense, but also that they should give some consideration about how and where they park.

The above is guidance given to london ambulance drivers.

No such thing.

No such thing.

Well it comes from a document headed

London ambulalance service NHS
nhs trust

So I imagine it's directed at ambulance drivers who drive ambulances in London.
Is there some point to your post ?

Yes, there is no such thing as an ambulance driver.

There are Paramedic, Advanced Technicians, Technicians and Emergency Care Asssitant they all can drive an ambulance but none of them are ambulance drivers. It’s very insulting towards staff to call them a driver, would you call a nurse a Dr helper?

Oh I get it ambulance drivers have to be called Paramedics or EMTs

I'll leave you and this thread with a quote from an ambulance driver

"The assumption by many paramedics and EMTs is that being called an ambulance driver demeans the skill and training that we have. Perhaps my paramedic skills take a back seat when I'm referred to as a driver, but I can't deny that aspect of my job."

Edit: I see you've added a bit more info to your original post. But I'd be hugely suprised if any but a small minority if paramedics are so precious that their offended by the general public sometimes reffering to them as ambulance drivers.

An ambulance has a driver. Therefore there is such a thing as an ambulance driver, in the same way that there is such a thing as a car driver.

There might not be a job title of Ambulance Driver, but that doesn't mean there is no such thing as a driver of an ambulance.

Molgrips +1

So does everyone posting think there are no circumstances whatsoever in which it might be unreasonable for the ambulance to block someone's drive?

(Other than this specific incident).

Not that I can think of to be honest.

Hang on, if the house was on fire and on the verge of going boom and the drive was the only viable escape route.

Oh I get it ambulance drivers have to be called Paramedics or EMTs

They should have one qualified person per vehicle and a big bloke who’s good at lifting and driving who is paid minimum wage. That’d save a fortune

Drac - Am I helping or hindering in my post above?

What about the bloke* who drives the 'ambulances' that ferry old folks with no other means to and from hospital? My brother in law used to do that, and although he tells people he was a Paramedic, I suspect anyone who needed anything more than a Strepsil or a Bob the Builder plaster would have been bang out of luck.

*rapid edit - or lady obviously, I don't want my facile post to be branded casually sexist.

I once got rage beeped at by a car behind mine for allowing a hearse and two or three following cars across a roundabout, granted it was my right of way but some people simply don't care about anything apart from themselves.

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

And as drivers go I would suggest ambulance drivers may be better skilled at driving than your average driver.
The blue light drivers atleast.

In a future where ambulances drive themselves will they put people out of jobs or will there be two paramedics in the back.

What about the bloke* who drives the 'ambulances' that ferry old folks

round here ambulance care assistants / patient transport services drivers IIRC

What about the bloke* who drives the 'ambulances' that ferry old folks with no other means to and from hospital?

Talking to ambulance dri.... sorry paramedics, it seems most start in the service doing such work and obviously receive an amount of first aid training. They have an option, if they choose to move on to full paramedic training. Some metioned that quite a few never do, the relatively small increase in pay doesn't make up for the huge increase in responsibility and stress.

Just watched the Runcorn bloke having a go at the paramedic. What a weapons grade spunk trumpet. Luckily a few people have posted his name and address on the Cheshire Police facebook feed so hopefully a he'll be getting such feedback directly.

Some procedures are much easier with two people but I did spend 7 years working on the rapid response car by myself and it's surprising what you can get done when control tell you there's no additional help to send.
Re. the post above about one qualified member of staff and a minimum wage gopher...already happens, when I started 17 years ago two paramedics on a vehicle was normal but now it tends to be one paramedic and one ECSW (emergency care support worker) or whatever variation a particular trust are using...think of them as the care assistants in a hospital and you're on the right track, that's not to say they aren't helpful (as I said earlier, two pairs of hand are often required) but their training is basic and I personally think it's a step backwards.

About the guys and girls ferrying oldies to and from outpatients appointments...they tend to be called Ambulance Care Assistants and work on the patient transport service (PTS) branch of the service...pretty much first aid and automatic defib training only, no blue light training either.

Hope that helps, regarding what to do if an ambulance comes up behind, just pull over to the left...simple, if you can't (say parked traffic on either side and only room for one vehicle down the road) drive at the pace you were, don't slow down, get past the parked cars and then pull over...again simple, why this isn't taught in the driving test I don't know...i even had a driver pull across me to the right while I was overtaking on the right, needless to say we collided and the bloke admitted he had no idea what to do and was trying to get into someone's driveway!...i admired his intention but the consequences were an RTC and having to stand down on the emergency...for once the service backed me instead of just paying out and pursued it for a 50/50 (anyone in the ambulance service knows how rare this is, usually blame on us is a given!)...weirdest evasive action I've come across yet.
Thankfully off road now and in control (the dark side!).

An ambulance has a driver. Therefore there is such a thing as an ambulance driver, in the same way that there is such a thing as a car driver.

That’s really pushing it to the extreme, you could belittle any job by looking at the most basic of skill and calling them that.

What about the bloke* who drives the 'ambulances' that ferry old folks with no other means to and from hospital?

Ambulance Care Assitants.

Talking to ambulance dri.... sorry paramedics, it seems most start in the service doing such work and obviously receive an amount of first aid training. ....Some metioned that quite a few never do, the relatively small increase in pay doesn't make up for the huge increase in responsibility and stress.

At one time many moons ago maybe but far from it now and the pay difference is significant.

Drac - Am I helping or hindering in my post above?

Probably a bit of both crews probably laugh at you to ne honest.