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Permalink Reply by Brian Mackie on March 2, 2010 at 9:09am

Well said lutan1. With so many (seemingly daily) apparatus that are involved in crashes, not to mention the near misses (or is it near Mrs. lol ) one has to stop blaming the civilian driver everytime they wreck their engine or whatever. Granted people do in fact have to also renew and in some cases gain respect for responding emergency vehicles and act responsibly, but I think the onus is still on the driver of the apparatus. In many locations a special license (here, we are required to hold a class 4 with the air brake endorsement if the vehicle is so equipped) to operate the emergency vehicles. As the professional driver, its up to us to avoid the crash, but as we know that is something that is not always possible.More emphasis on driver training is a great first step. Random testing? I suspect there are lots of options to help rectify this serious problem.
I don't believe for a second that the above mentioned apparatus driver did anything deliberately, but obviously someone thinks there was some negligence. This should serve as an eye opener to curb this nasty problem that we have in the services.

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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on March 2, 2010 at 1:11pm

Spot on Brian.

Many years ago, one of our drivers was charged after he drove a Rescue through a red light (with lights and sirens operating) and he struck a car crossing the intersection. The Rescue driver was moving at approximately 30kph at the time of the impact.

He was charged because the Police argued that although he was running EVS (Emergency Vehicle Status), it was not safe and expedient to go through the red light, and the fact that he hit the car, proved it.

It was a bit of a wake up for a few drivers....

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Permalink Reply by Roy Walker on March 2, 2010 at 2:56pm

The driver involved in this accident would have had to have had an appropriate licence for the vehicle ,we use a weight classification along with a z (air brake endorsement ). The driver still is responsible for the safe operation of the vehicle and must proceed safely at all times . In most of our departments this is backed up by officer enforcement and it is this officer's required duty that safe rules of operation are obeyed. Until more evidence of the situation are made available I can only waite to evaluate any further.

To my personal knowledge Vaughn is a very proffessional and reliable fire service and in no way should this incident automatically put them in a bad perception. We all need to constantly evaluate and review our operations to maintain standards and avoid these situations.

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