What would you do? Ambulance coming..

[MadMike]

My father (a driving instructor and former ambulance driver) said that yes, IF the best way to get out of the way of an emergency vehicle is to enter an intersection, you can legally do so.

That's what I had to do the one time. I was at a red light in a four-lane street, and an ambulance came up behind me with its lights flashing. There was nowhere for me to go without going through the red light, and I didn't know what to do. Then the driver got on his PA system and told me to "Move it!" So I carefully pulled through the intersection.

[Jetfire]

Jetfire - if that is the bridge I'm thinking of I think that 'barely 2 lanes wide' is a very generous description of something I would classify as 'almost 1 1/2 lanes wide'. Didn't do too bad on it but it was a bit heart pounding when the big truck came in at me. I also haven't been there since June 1997, so maybe it's been made wider (I was there when another bridge opened up).

There are at least 2 bridges that would qualify that for crossing the Saint John River that I know of. Up at Hartland there's the Hugh John Flemming Bridge that used to be the TCH bridge. It needs major work on it, but hasn't been done as far as I know since it would involve closing it off.

But the one I was talking about is the one you're probably thinking of, the Princess Margaret Bridge. Last year it was closed for most of the summer to replace the bridge deck. It is slightly wider, but not by much. (They can't make it any wider due to the central span's framework).

And this summer's going to be extra fun because Freddy's other bridge (Westmorland Street) is going to be half closed for deckwork of its own.

Really, all of NB's bridges built in the mid 20th are scarily narrow when you look at them now. The Jemseg bridge on the old TCH looks like a one lane wide bridge compared to the 4-lane TCH monsters that were built next to it for the new highway.

*edit* Now that I think of it, I can think of a lot more scarily narrow bridges than just those two. Nackawic, Burton's Corner, Woolastok, they're all scarily narrow too, especailly for their traffic loads. Meduxnekeag in Woodstock used to be narrow too but it was rebuilt with the new TCH.

[NecessaryCatharsis]

Jetfire - Nope, I ended up looking it up, turns out it is the Gunningsville Bridge from Moncton to Riverview that had me stressing while driving it - so I wasn`t even in the right city! There does seem to be a lot of narrow bridges in NB though.

[Shalom]

Well it could be worse.

YT is blocked here, but I think that's the right video.

(edit: someone seems to have unblocked it. : Here's someone crossing it in a car.)

edit again: These guys had to do some impromptu repair work before crossing.

[evilhomer]

With an emergency vehicle coming up to a blocked intersection, I agree that staying put and not moving is your best bet. Good idea putting the 4-ways on to give some indication of your intentions. If they want you out of the way, they'll get behind and make it very clear that that's what they want, at which point, it is legal to break a few laws to safely clear the path.

The driver had a plan coming up to the intersection. Anybody being "helpful" and doing something unexpected is just going to screw up that plan and make everything worse.

[otakuneko]

Well it could be worse.

YT is blocked here, but I think that's the right video.

(edit: someone seems to have unblocked it. : Here's someone crossing it in a car.)

Eh, it's probably safer than the one the Top Gear boys built in Burma.