- Joined
- Oct 11, 2002
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Well, I never busted a rig but I'm sure others have (and I've heard some amazing stories from others I used to work with)...
During the year I worked for a private company in chicago I got into only one minor "not at fault" accident. I just crossed an intersection (with a patient on board to a dr's appt., going normal speed without lights and sirens). I heard sirens in the distance around me and as I am looking around me to see where it is coming from, and start to slow down. As I do so, the guy next to me in the left hand lane (I'm in the right hand lane) sideswipes me. It ends up that the sirens were from a fire truck going perpendicular at the crossing I just passed, and they were never on my street! Supposedly the patient and the other EMT in the back never felt what happened, but I did (because he hit my door) and I got a bit shaken up because this was my first accident with the rig. The car that hit me and I pull over, and his claim was "I hear lights and sirens, I pull to right." Well LOOKING first helps. We had our dispatcher call the nursing home that the patient was from and even though nothing really happened they had one of our ALS's take her to the ER. It ends up that the guy refused to go to the police station to file a report, so instead of just filing the report and finishing the policeman who came to us (usually they don't come to you in Chicago unless there's an injury or disabled vehicle) ended up giving him a ticket for improper lane usage . The officer was pretty much rolling his eyes when hearing the other driver's story.
My other near accident was that I did a 180 degree turn on black ice while driving on an onramp to the tristate tollway (without a patient), nearly tumbling down the hill next to the onramp. After that my partner and I invented the term "rampaphobia."
During the year I worked for a private company in chicago I got into only one minor "not at fault" accident. I just crossed an intersection (with a patient on board to a dr's appt., going normal speed without lights and sirens). I heard sirens in the distance around me and as I am looking around me to see where it is coming from, and start to slow down. As I do so, the guy next to me in the left hand lane (I'm in the right hand lane) sideswipes me. It ends up that the sirens were from a fire truck going perpendicular at the crossing I just passed, and they were never on my street! Supposedly the patient and the other EMT in the back never felt what happened, but I did (because he hit my door) and I got a bit shaken up because this was my first accident with the rig. The car that hit me and I pull over, and his claim was "I hear lights and sirens, I pull to right." Well LOOKING first helps. We had our dispatcher call the nursing home that the patient was from and even though nothing really happened they had one of our ALS's take her to the ER. It ends up that the guy refused to go to the police station to file a report, so instead of just filing the report and finishing the policeman who came to us (usually they don't come to you in Chicago unless there's an injury or disabled vehicle) ended up giving him a ticket for improper lane usage . The officer was pretty much rolling his eyes when hearing the other driver's story.
My other near accident was that I did a 180 degree turn on black ice while driving on an onramp to the tristate tollway (without a patient), nearly tumbling down the hill next to the onramp. After that my partner and I invented the term "rampaphobia."