That's not just ANY red light you just blew through

[Dave1982]

This happened while I was out walking the dog last week. Our route takes us past the local fire station. Said station has an emergency traffic light in front of it (one that flashes yellow and only turns red when the fire trucks roll).

As we were coming up on the station, the doors opened, and I could see the firefighters sprinting towards the truck. The truck doors slammed, the engine roared to life, the lights started flashing, and the emergency signal turned red.

As the truck was pulling out of the firehouse, an idiot in an SUV blatantly ran the red light. Never even slowed down, just blew right through the light and damn near got hit by the fire engine!

How much of an unobservant airhead do you need to be to miss both a red light AND a fire engine?!

He got a nice blast from their air horn for his trouble, but it's too bad there wasn't a police officer there to issue the "red light violation" and "emergency vehicle, fail pull over for" citations.

[sms001]

I firmly believe that failure to yield to e-vehicles should be a suspension at least. Either of the two "excuses" mean you shouldn't be on the road; sheer willful disregard for them, or the inability to notice them.
Glad the firefighters and, (sigh.... I guess) the SUV driver escaped unharmed.

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

I know a fireman. He also rides motorcycles.

Other riders often complain about being invisible. He frequently points out that even driving a stonking great red truck with flashing lights and a wailing siren, the other obliviots on the road don't see him.

I often think there should be a fine for 'driving whilst stupid'.

[EricKei]

LSF - Some states do have such a law that covers certain really stupid things -- IIRC, Arizona (and, hopefully, Louisiana) has a law which makes the driver 100% responsible for any damages caused to his car/self/others and their property if they disregard warning signs/barricades around a flooded area and drive through it anyway. They also have to pay for the Emergency Services/tow to get their vehicle out of said water.

[Deserted]

That's one of the things I like about Desert Hell. Where else can you find a literal idiot tax?

[iradney]

Seriously? A fire truck is huge. HUGE. That thing could squish my little Corsa Lite and not even feel the bump. An SUV has about as much chance against a firetruck as a lizard has against a raging bull...

[crazylegs]

How much of an unobservant airhead do you need to be to miss both a red light AND a fire engine?!

Dunno, but I can get their attention

Back when I was in the fuzz a Land Rover Defender turned against a 'no left turn' sign and damn near ran me over on a pedestrian crossing. Apparently me yelling at someone is sufficient enough to make them stall then pull over They'd missed 4 backlit signs saying 'no left turn' - they know there's 4 as I made them go and count them all

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

LSF - Some states do have such a law that covers certain really stupid things -- IIRC, Arizona (and, hopefully, Louisiana) has a law which makes the driver 100% responsible for any damages caused to his car/self/others and their property if they disregard warning signs/barricades around a flooded area and drive through it anyway. They also have to pay for the Emergency Services/tow to get their vehicle out of said water.

Oh I dream of such a thing!

Drivers here can be charged with negligent or dangerous driving, but it seems pretty subjective. I'm sure there are a heap of other charges that could be applied (must check with My Sister the Cop) but it seems to depend on the viewpoint of the particular cop. I know there are laws also about impeding/interfering with emergency vehicles too.

I remember hearing a tale years back about a female driver in Canada who went through a level crossing and got hit by a train. A large, bright yellow, well lit train. And there were flashing lights at the crossing. She survived, and in her defence said she 'didn't see it'.

Here in the Southernmost Outpost we don't have a lot of trains, and they're very infrequent in most areas, so people just aren't aware of crossing safety as much as they should be. There's been a spate of crashes across the state as cars either ignore the warning lights (most of our crossings don't have physical barriers) or try to race the train. Exercises doomed to failure.

And Crazylegs, I have a Defender. Alas they're easy to stall... They run beautifully up until they don't. I like your style though!

[Cia]

When I was living in Louisiana I heard about two teen girls who's car got hit by a train. They survived and said that they didn't see the train because they were listening to the radio and this was after driving around the crossing barrier.

I almost got hit by a firetruck once - the car in the other lane stopped and I couldn't figure out why because we had the green light. As I drove through the intersection that's when I saw the firetruck with it's lights on and no I didn't hear it at all. I was also driving my Mom's Nissan and the car to my left was a large pickup so I couldn't see the firetruck coming anyway. This was before the invention of the little black box thing that will change the light color for the emergency vehicle.