Aloha spirit lacking to emergency vehicles on the road

By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Staff Writer

The ambulance's flashing red lights and strobes could be seen from quite a distance, and the siren scream was piercing. But it seemed everyone traveling 'ewabound along the H-1 Freeway this day — air conditioners blasting, radios cranked, children hollering from the back seat — was in a hurry to be somewhere.

Ambulance drivers are finding that motorists aren't making it easy for them on the road. Some say it's because cars are insulated from outside noise so drivers can't hear sirens, while others say people are in too much of a hurry and refuse to get out of the way. Kyle Sackowski • The Honolulu Advertiser

It is a scene played out dozens of times in Honolulu each day as the drivers of police cars, fire trucks and ambulances battle heavier traffic and more drivers who just won't yield an inch. Some even follow speeding emergency vehicles as a way to get around traffic.

Mandy Shiraki, field operations supervisor for the city's Emergency Medical Services Division ambulance service, recalled a close call when a car tailed his ambulance through three red lights while the paramedics were headed toward a medical call.

"It was a brand-new Jaguar; it still had the dealer plates," Shiraki said. "At one point, I had to hit the brakes, and the guy almost slammed into us from behind."

While the number of accidents involving city emergency vehicles has dropped in the past few years, interviews with emergency workers suggest that there are more near-misses than before. They also report that more drivers simply fail to yield, either because they don't hear the vehicles or because they don't want to pull over.

Firefighters Richard Young and Peter Neifert maneuver a 30-ton ladder truck through the city's congested and narrow streets. Both work at the Pawa'a fire station at 1610 Makaloa St., the state's busiest fire station with 1,167 emergency calls last year in the Waikiki and Ala Moana areas.

"For a variety of reasons, drivers are not responding to us like they used to," said Young, a 26-year department veteran. "I don't know if it's the sirens or the flashing lights, but some drivers tend to freeze up when we come around."

	Just pull over, stop your car
	Ambulance operators and firefighters offered some tips for drivers on yielding to emergency vehicles:
•	Drivers should pull to the side of the road if possible. On a two-way roadway with no median strip, this applies to drivers headed in both directions. "The reason is that sometimes we need to use the lane in the opposite direction to get around stuck traffic," firefighter Richard Young said.
•	Be alert and don't panic.
•	On the freeway, drivers should move to the side as much as possible. Even moving a half lane to the side can provide enough room for the emergency driver.
•	Don't attempt to follow the emergency vehicle after it passes through. "It's not only dangerous to follow a fire truck or ambulance, but you can start road rage by cutting off other drivers trying to get back on the road after we go by," firefighter Peter Neifert said.

"They're not secured down because they have to move around to treat the person," Shiraki said. "We brake hard or someone hits us from behind and the paramedics can go flying like in a pinball machine."

The last fatal accident involving an emergency vehicle and a motorist was in 1998 when a car driven by 27-year-old Tracey Teruya was broadsided by a fire truck at the intersection of Wilder Avenue and Kewalo Street in Makiki. The city paid a $1.25 million settlement to her family.

Since the accident, all of the Makiki station fire vehicles have been equipped with an Opticom device, which can turn traffic lights green as emergency vehicles approach.

Robin McCulloch, chief of the city's Emergency Medical Services, said the newest ambulances have sirens that create a more piercing sound, and more red and white strobe lights to better catch the driver's attention. And intersections on many major streets such as Kalakaua Avenue and Kalaniana'ole Highway, as well as those near fire stations, are now equipped with Opticom devices.

Emergency workers have several theories about why drivers aren't stopping. Some believe cars have been made so insulated from outside noise that drivers can't hear sirens approaching. Others say it's because there are too many distractions.

"Booming car stereos, air conditioning and cell phones are problems," Neifert said. "Anything that takes away attention from what's going around you, doesn't help us."

Some believe people are just in too much of a hurry, not wanting to spare the seconds it would take to pull over, or not wanting to sit through another cycle of a red light.

And some people may have simply forgotten what to do when approached by an emergency vehicle.

"When people get their driver's license renewed, they don't have to retake the written exam," Shiraki said. "Maybe they should require it to remind drivers on what to do when we come by."

Most officials believe the overall problem still comes down to driver awareness.

"I know it sounds cliched, but think if the fire truck or ambulance was responding to help your family member," Neifert said about clearing the road. "If people were to ride around with us for one day, I think they would be a little more understanding."

Scott Ishikawa covers transportation issues. His e-mail address is sishikawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.