Show a Little Respect and Get Out of the Way

I have a tremendous amount of respect for people who choose a career in service, especially those who put their own lives in danger for the benefit of others.

I’m sure a lot of that is because my dad was a volunteer fireman and EMT for almost 15 years. Some of my earliest memories are of those guys - I remember waking up in the middle of the night when my dad’s pager went off, and how holiday parties were always scheduled around when he was on-call. I watched them burn down our old garage as practice and before prom my dad was on the field demonstrating the danger of drinking and driving with a wrecked car and the jaws of life.

I don’t just respect the people and what they do, though, I also respect their rules and the part we all need to play for everyone to be safe. I seem to be in the minority of folks who do, unfortunately, and I wonder whether its because people don’t know or whether they just don’t care. I’m hoping it’s the former.

The offense that I’ve been noticing lately? Drivers who don’t slow down and pull over to the right when they see emergency vehicles behind then or actually stop the car when they see/hear the sirens.

If it was your house on fire or your spouse having a heart attack you’d want nothing to slow the assistance from getting to you as soon as possible. If they were delayed because of ignorant driver traffic, you’d probably think those drivers were liable for some of your pain and suffering.

Besides the moral obligation, its also the law. To paraphrase Illinois Rules of the Road:

• When you SEE an emergency vehicle, yield, change to a lane away from that vehicle and slow down.
• When you HEAR and SEE an emergency vehicle, immediately pull over to the right side of the road and stop until the vehicle passes.

Your current driving situation does not trump that of an emergency vehicle with lights and/or sirens blazing and its awfully self-centered to think that it is. Safety rules are there for a reason; they decrease everybody’s risk for bad things to happen. SHOW A LITTLE RESPECT AND GET OUT OF THE WAY.

Firemen, policemen and paramedics risk their lives on a daily basis to improve the safety of yours. The least you could do is respect them when they are doing their job. Safety first!