San Diego Fire Rescue Paramedic Engine Hit Head-On While En Route to Call

#1. Drivers get impatient when highway traffic is shut down in their direction of travel and frequently, particularly if impaired (e.g., under the influence of alcohol or drugs), they turn around and travel in the opposite direction to get off the highway. They therefore may not see a responding engine or ambulance proceeding up the left shoulder of the highway to access the scene.   #2. Fire apparatus and ambulances travel in the far left lane because motor vehicle codes call for drivers to “pull to the right and yield to approaching emergency vehicles.” That makes them vulnerable to impaired, wrong-way drivers who law enforcement agencies report most often drive in the far right (slow) lane so they aren't detected. This puts them in the high-speed lane or left shoulder, directly in the trajectory to strike responding apparatus. #3. When there's no traffic in front of them when responding on a highway, emergency vehicle operators should try to avoid traveling in the far left (fast lane) to avoid head-on collisions with wrong-way drivers. From KGTV San Diego 10 News: Wrong-Way Driver Killed after Colliding with San Diego Fire Truck By Mimi Elkalla & Jermaine Ong SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - A wrong-way driver was killed Friday morning after colliding head-on with a San Diego Fire-Rescue engine that was responding to a hit-and-run in Sherman Heights. At about 2 a.m., SDFRD Engine 11 was on its way to a hit-and-run collision involving a pedestrian on southbound Interstate ...
Source: JEMS Operations - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Ambulances & Vehicle Ops News Source Type: news