32 — Friday, January 22, 1999 — North Shore News
north shore news

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183 Pemberton Ave. TALKING

donation Sefer ee

DAVE Suck Ford’s Mariene
Buck stands with West Van
police Sgt. Jim Almas as
i Cpl. Brian Schierer checks
y out the 1999 Ford Windstar
donated by the dealership.
The van will be used by the
Block Water program.

HERE’S a subject I’ve
covered before. More
to the point, here’s a
subject I’m going to
cover again and again.
Emergency vehicles.

The procedure a driver is
to follow when confronted
by an emergency vehicle
responding to an emergency
call is pretty straight for-
ward.

Strangely, North Shore
drivers just can’t seem to get
it right.

Generally, when an emer-
gency vehicle is actively
engaged in an emergency
(lights flashing and/or
sirens wailing) and regard-
lqgg of the direction the
emergency vehicle is coming
from, drivers are to move
their vehicles as close te the
nearest curb as possible
(usually the righi-side curb;
the left side iffon the feft-
side of a one way street) and
stop; proceeding only when
the emergency vehicle has
passed.

Bur, you ask, what about
stopping in the middie of an
intersection? Wrong.

Doing so may well cause
blockage of the quickest
route to the emergency
sight.

It’s also illegal.

*This procedure is covered
in the mighty Moter Vehicle
Act. Unfortunately, the
mighty act dees not men-
tion anything about using
cSmmon sense which, in this
case, it should.
~aFor example, the MVA
mentions “as near 3s possi-
ble” to the nearest curb. If
there is a car or a bunch of
cars already positioned on
your right, driving up the

mifctt a Few blocks io find
your own curbside haven is

Pore IERESTeES Sere rererereyTe TTY ree tre rrr ee

shaun

counter-productive.

Keep in mind the essence
of what you are trying to
accomplish by moving to
the curb: You are trying to
make as much room as pos-

“The procedure a
driver is to follow
when confronted
by an emergency
vehicle responding
to an emergency
call is pretty
straightforward.”

sible for the emergency
vehicle te pass ~~ in other
words, to immediately yield
the right of way.

Some people scent reluc-
tant to do this for fear of
“giving up their place in
line.” Too Bad. Give up
your “place.”

If vou can’t ger to the
curb, just get as close to it
as possible. Just make roam,
Like Pve said before and
like PU say again and again,
it may be your house chat’s
on fire, vou're mother being
robbed, your child that
needs an ambulance...

Keep in mind that mov-
ing to the side of the road is

your first priority, stopping
is a close second — definite-

ly not the other way around.

Some drivers go into an
absolute panic when con-
fronted by an emergency
vehicle and will simply stop
in the middle of the road.
Wrong. Get it out of the
way. Then step.

Why re-hash a subject
already covered in previous
columns?

Because you're not get-
ting, folks.

and, on that same note,
it seems that my lite : back-
page opinion doesn’t carry
enough weight. Pl take
some blame for that, sar-
casm and dry wit have
become my undoing.

Hell, J don't even take
myself that seriously.

So, starting next week
and for some time to come,
PH rehash this active emer-
gency vehicle procedure
with some help from a few
people with more pull than
yours truly.

Sergeant Bob Beaudoin
of the North Vancouver
RCMP Traffic Section
recenily related a couple of
horror stories to me.
Extreme frustration with
boneheads who would nor
move it aut the way.

His testimonial wiil
appear next week. Alter
that, depositions fram other
police officers, firemen, res-
cue workers, ambulance
crews, In short, the mien
and women who deal with
carnage and car wreckage
day in and day out. They'd
like North Shore drivers to
adhere to the rules.

But don’t take my word
for it.

Brace yourselves,
stories are coming.

Be safe.

Their

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