Oahu drivers learn how to react to sirens
 |
StoryChat: Comment on this story |
By Kim Fassler
Advertiser Staff Writer
| |||
 |
|
||
A growing number of calls for emergency medical help, increasingly crowded roads and drivers uncertain about how to respond when an ambulance approaches have led to a new public awareness campaign.
"We're not saying the public is blatantly breaking laws — I think a lot of them just don't know what to do," said Bryan Cheplic, spokesman with the city's Emergency Services Division.
A "Please Abide, Move Aside" campaign, scheduled to be announced by city officials tomorrow, comes as the ambulance service is experiencing a 10 percent increase in emergency calls over the past three years, Cheplic said.
EMS personnel are responding to from 60,000 to 70,000 calls a year, he said. For 2006, EMS had 64,114 responses compared with 58,394 responses in 2004.
Many O'ahu drivers are aware of the basic rule: When an emergency vehicle is behind you, get out of the way.
"I pull over to the side and we're supposed to stop," said Dean Uyeda, 28, of Salt Lake, a commercial banker at American Savings Bank in Downtown Honolulu. "I don't always stop, but I know we're supposed to."
The problem lies with the rules about how to move aside, which motorists and officials agree can be a bit nebulous.
Two sections in the Hawai'i Revised Statutes address how to react to an approaching emergency vehicle with sirens on and lights flashing:
The law also forbids cars, except those on official business, from following closer than 500 feet behind an emergency vehicle or parking within 500 feet of where the vehicle stops to answer a call.
Motorists can be fined $97 for not pulling aside for an emergency vehicle, and the same amount for tailing.
In 2006, there were 18 citations for people not pulling over and 21 citations for drivers following emergency vehicles, according to the police Traffic Violations Bureau.
NO SET PROCEDURE
Officials acknowledge there is no precise written protocol for many situations motorists may encounter daily. As a result, there is some confusion about moving out of the way safely — and legally.
For example, when in the middle lane of a three-lane highway, drivers should move to whichever side is safer, said Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Yu, who added, "Every situation is going to be a little different."
Many motorists say they learned how to react from driver's education or while preparing for their driver's permit tests.
"I flunked three times, so I think I got every question that ever existed on that test," said Susan Castillejos, 36, of Nu'uanu, an executive assistant at Hawai'i Arts Alliance.
When drivers see an ambulance coming, "I think a lot of them freak out, panic," she added. "Or maybe they didn't get that test question."
Several people actually thought it was OK for drivers to go through a red light if their cars were preventing an ambulance from getting through an intersection — which they said they learned from taking the permit test.
But the driver's manual makes no mention of this, and going through a red light was not condoned by EMS, HPD or state Department of Transportation, although officials said each situation should be looked at on a case-by-case basis.
"We would never encourage anyone to go through an intersection on a red light even if there is an emergency vehicle behind you," Cheplic said.
Officials also said drivers may respond differently to an approaching ambulance than they would to a police car, for fear of being pulled over and ticketed.
"We're vested with different types of authority. People react differently," HPD spokesman Capt. Frank Fujii said.
Drivers also observed cars tailing ambulances and noted that it was illegal — even if the cars were carrying family following loved ones to the hospital.
Paramedics always inform family members of which hospital they will be taking the patient to and also let the family know if the location changes.
"It's just common sense and courtesy" to clear a path for an ambulance, said Muriel Taira, 54, an attorney from Honolulu. "It could be your grandmother or someone you love in there. If it were, you'd want to pull over as soon as possible."
Taira once called an ambulance for her father and wanted to tail the paramedics, who told her not to follow the ambulance too closely. She lost the vehicle in traffic.
COULD BE WORSE
Many motorists also don't just drive when they're behind the wheel — they gab on cell phones, fiddle with radio channels or CD players, put on mascara or even eat breakfast.
"Usually, it's that they're not paying attention, or have their windows up and they can't hear." said Peter Peterson, 35, of Waipahu, a Handi-Van operator.
"Some people probably didn't pay attention to the driver's manual or they're from a foreign country," said Joan Church, 53, of Kane'ohe, a former Navy hospital corpsman who drove an ambulance in Florida.
Still, EMS might be thankful for the role the aloha spirit plays on Hawai'i's roads. Phil Brown, 46, an attorney and Makiki resident who moved here from New York City in 1993, said Hawai'i ambulances don't have it so bad.
"By and large, people here drive with aloha," he said. "New Yorkers take advantage of every opportunity to drive fast."
"Human nature is hard," said Joe Marshall of Central O'ahu, a security guard at the state Supreme Court. "If people think they're gonna beat the ambulance, they're gonna beat the ambulance.
"At 57 years old, I've been through a lot. With that many years of driving, you have to know the rules."
• • •
