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Ambulance etiquette

In a crowded country like India, where our senses are constantly assaulted by noises, colours and sights, its streets filled with jostling crowds and impatient vehicles competing for space and struggling to get past, it is no surprise that we have learnt to ignore anything extraneous to our own thoughts, needs and plans for the day.

In a pragmatic society like ours, we accept with little argument that death is inevitable. We all have to die and die of something. We see death and decay all too frequently, maybe chronically numbing our senses, destroying our empathy.

Photo : Mid-day

Where does that leave a wailing ambulance then? Just white noise to filter out? An object of curiosity? A missive on our own mortality?

Not to the patient or her family though. Every second on that journey to the hospital, could to her be the difference between life and death, between life as she knew it and life suspended, maybe in coma.

So what is the right thing to do when we see an ambulance?

  1. Remember, there is a real person in there. It might not be you or someone you love, but one day, it might be.
  2. Be alert. Look for the ambulance. Listen out for it.
  3. Locate the vehicle and try and identify it’s possible route. It will help you decide which way to move. Look in the mirror to see which way the other vehicles are pulling over.
  4. Now pull over. Sometimes just slowing down will do.
  5. Indicate. When pulling over, use your indicator to communicate which way you plan to move. It will make the ambulance driver’s job much easier.
  6. Keep safe. You are responsible for your own safety and that of other road users. Don’t, for example, speed, to get out of the ambulance’s way.

And what you should not do?

  1. Don’t question the authenticity of the ambulance service or the emergency. You might have concerns but now is not the time to act on it.
  2. Don’t ignore it; don’t copy others who might ignore it. Sometimes, you might be the only agent of change on that road.
  3. Don’t annoy other road users by trying to follow the ambulance out through the traffic. It makes them reluctant to let one pass another time.
  4. Don’t misuse the lull in the traffic to dart out in front of the ambulance.
  5. Don’t inch forward at traffic lights, taking up every bit of space behind the stop line (sometimes even in front of it!). It creates a web of wheels with no room to manoeuvre and allow an ambulance to pass.

Remember, what you do behind the wheel today might save somebody’s life. I would save yours. Will you save mine?

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