I debated whether I was going to waste my time responding to the headlines of Wednesday’s paper, then I decided it had to be done.
Unbeknownst to the general public, code three responses have many restrictions that come into play everyday, everywhere.
For instance, if you come across a school bus unloading children, you MUST shut down the siren and lights and wait like everyone else for the kids to clear the road.
You MUST come to a complete stop at all stop signs including fourway stops. You are NOT allowed to travel more than 10 km/h over the posted limit, so if the fire truck is making it to Maryland Road from town in 10 minutes or better, then they are breaking the law.
These examples, along with the fact that not everyone heeds the way for emergency responders properly, only illustrates that there are many reasons a code three response can be delayed.
Good judgement, on the part of the responders and the public, will ensure a response that is as speedy as is practical and safe. If, for some reason, you happen to be in that 200-metre stretch of Highway 19A, and you see a firetruck coming with lights and siren, then don’t stop until you can SAFELY get out of their way, otherwise you may be mounted from behind by a union member of the fire department that thinks they should be consulted on how to build roads. We could probably cut down on the number of times that a fire truck needs to travel this portion of road if they would stop responding to ambulance calls for no apparent reason.
Another thing, if they are using Alder as their southerly route, unless they go down Rockland hill to 19A, they won’t be in this situation.
M. Harpper
