Now here's a novel idea....

From the Toronto Star:
When you hear a siren, pull over now!
Lorraine Sommerfeld

Special to the Star

Jul 03, 2008
The fire trucks in my city have been told they will have to obey the speed limit from now on, even when responding to emergency calls.

From my admittedly unscientific research, this means they will be the only vehicles obeying the speed limit, but I digress.

Collision rates have been too high; trucks are equipped with a device that can change the light at an intersection before they reach it, and by doing the posted limit, it will give the light a chance to change.

The truck can proceed at a steady, legal pace, rather than dodging and speeding up and slowing down.

I can gulp down most of this argument, except for one comment from Burlington’s Fire Prevention Officer about the reason for even needing a life-saving emergency vehicle to have to stroll to a call in the first place: fewer people are pulling over to the side of the road.

Be still my cynical heart, but here’s an idea: Hold to account the morons who refuse to get out of the way.

Do you panic and freeze up when you hear a siren? Then you shouldn’t be driving.

If an approaching siren freaks you out, what are you going to do if a kid runs out in front of you? You are obligated to know and perform the rules of the Highway Traffic Act at all times, not just during your test when you’re 16.

Perhaps you didn’t notice the flashing lights in your rearview mirror, because the last time you checked in your rearview mirror was when you checked your lipstick or wiped the Big Mac remnants from your moustache. The mirror’s not just to hang crap from.

Maybe you didn’t hear the siren at all, because you were on your cellphone. Wouldn’t it be great if a siren within a kilometre radius was channelled through phones directly into drivers’ ears?

My favourite excuse? “It was rush hour; there was nowhere I could go.” Wrong. There is always somewhere you can go. Pull into a driveway; pull into a plaza. If you’re trapped at a red light – even in the left turn lane – you can make a legal right turn when safe and go a block out of your way.

Every other person out there is driving a 4X4, which, believe it or not, has the clearance to go off road and can easily climb a median.

Don’t worry about being the first to pull to the right and stop. Maybe the other ignorant “sheeple” on the road will get the idea and follow suit.

An emergency situation is the perfect time to be a keener who read all the instructions. Roadways are much wider than the lines painted on them, and cars can afford much needed space by pulling to the curb.

A fire will double in size every 30 to 60 seconds. An entire room can be in flames within three minutes. Smoke is a bigger killer, and moves at a rate of one metre every second.

If an emergency vehicle suddenly turns off its sirens and slows down, it was not “practising,” it was simply pulled off the call.

Is the fire truck coming from the other direction? Same rules. Pull over and stop.

You have no idea where that vehicle is heading, and it may need your side of the road to get there.

I see a lot of psychics out there mixed in with the cellphone babblers and others doing anything but driving.

The only cure?

Assume somebody you love made that 911 call.

Lorraine Sommerfeld’s column appears Thursday on wheels.ca. www.lorraineonline.ca