Friday’s Rant from the Soap Box in MY Living Room – MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!!

Welcome to my Friday’s Rants from the Soap Box in my Living Room. A small space in the week where I can have a chunter about things that have made me twitch with annoyance or made me question if the world has gone mad or not. This week, my foot stomping tantrum is  titled “MOVE OUT OF THE WAY”, read on to find out more…

I recently was walking along the side of the road, near where we live. The road was busy, but not gridlocked. I heard an emergency vehicle approaching from behind me, coming along the road. As it grew closer, I could see that most of the cars on the road were aware, and were trying to make an effort to move out of it’s way. It appeared on the road, where I was and was an in fact an ambulance. It was clearly trying to get somewhere (either to an emergency situation, or taking someone to hospital for urgent care) and it needed to get through the traffic. It’s sirens were going and the blue emergency lights. They weren’t out for a quiet afternoon drive in suburbia…

I was shocked to see that despite most of the cars trying to make the road as clear as possible, one or two did not, and one car driver appeared furious at having to move at all, refused to move and  even hooted his horn several times at another car moving slightly out of the way, to give the ambulance safe clearance. This horrified me. They aren’t generally trying to get home faster for their tea, or to clock off their shift, they are probably trying to get somewhere fast to help someone or deal with an emergency situation. 

Whilst it is not always the easiest thing or convenient to have to get out of the way, for an emergency vehicle in your path, it’s just basic moral and common sense to do so. The people driving them, be they fire fighters, paramedics, or police officers (or other members of the emergency services) are trying to get somewhere to help someone, save a life, stop or intervene in a crime happening, and they need to get there safely and quickly. If car and other vehicle drivers refuse to get out of their way, they have to waste precious minutes getting through, and this could be putting people’s lives at risk. Frankly, if you refuse to get out of the way of an  emergency vehicle, when you safely can, you are a selfish numpty and I hope neither you or your family ever have to wait the arrival of an emergency service vehicle or get stuck in traffic in one (I can tell you from experience that riding in an ambulance with a very unwell relative, getting them to hospital is no joke, you are hoping and praying to get there as safely and quickly as you can, and waiting for the emergency services to arrive to help you is equally stressful, if people are selfish and don’t allow them to get through, it makes that wait longer) 

So, if you are in a car or other vehicle and you hear an emergency vehicle coming towards you, on the road, and you can move out of it’s way to allow it to maneuver through quickly, then please do. Don’t be a selfish numpty, MOVE OUT OF THE WAY…. 

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