One must never underestimate the perils faced by ambulance drivers in this country. These individuals are very much the unsung heroes in our midst as they have to dodge heavy traffic and inconsiderate drivers who refuse to give way, often on a daily basis, as Bernama reports.
Driving an ambulance isn’t an easy task, as drivers need to be solely focused on saving lives and ensuring the patients they are transporting reach the hospital efficiently, yet safely. Sadly, there are still a number of road users who are selfish and simply ignore the ambulance siren, said ambulance driver Nozarie Abdul Hamid.
The 40-year-old, who works for the Penang Civil Defence Department, said that inconsiderate drivers could cause a patient to die because the progress of the ambulance was hindered and treatment was late.
“Some of them do not give way and even follow us closely from behind, and this is very dangerous,” he said. This is quite obvious even in the Klang Valley, as even I have witnessed all kinds of shenanigans by drivers who try to tail an ambulance just to get a ‘free pass’ through traffic.
Occasionally, there are bright spots in this profession, as once after he successfully transported a Japanese national who was seriously injured in the calf due to broken glass, he received an official gesture of appreciation from the Japanese Embassy.
Norazie believes that being courageous is a given in this job, but competency in terms of handling a bulky ambulance in certain high-speed scenarios is essential to remain safe. Moreover, assisting the medical crew to treat victims and take down relevant information is also of paramount importance.
Lee Shin Ling, 28, an ambulance driver with Penang St. John Ambulance told the publication that she initially felt nervous and awkward about the whole idea of ferrying sick passengers in emergencies, but was now comfortable about doing so, having had eight years of experience behind the wheel.
What are your thoughts on this? Do Malaysian drivers give way enough to ambulances, or are they just inconsiderate and indifferent to the workings of the emergency medical service? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section.
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a lot of malaysian drivers who think that just because the patient in the ambulance isn’t their loved ones, they don’t bother to give way.
Whenever i see police outriders escorting ‘important’ people I try my best not to give them way till the point those outriders start banging my car with their hands. However if i see emergency vehicles like bomba/ambulance I’ll get the hell out of the way
YES… YES…. I support you.
I not only support dodgeviper88, I am also a practitioner….
Peace..
What about police outriders escorting ambulans unknowingly with ‘important’ people inside?
Mindception.
Dear Ambulance drivers
I know that you all have to zig zag (weave in and out) the traffic to send people to the hospital but please also be considerate not to misuse you siren when the situation is not urgent.
Ps. I also give way to the police outsiders when the escort the dead. (Are the police allowed to escort the dead using government assets?)
why the ambulance wordings on bonet terbalik?
When you see the terbalik words on your rear and side mirrors, what do you see?
It is on purpose.Try reading it by looking at your rear view mirror when you see one behind you.
the word ambulance will be spelled correctly when it is reflected on your vehicle’s side and rear mirrors. so thats xplain y they r ‘terbalik’ in the 1st place.
So you can read it while looking at your car rear view mirror.
Malaysian drivers will say: “99% the ambulans will on siren but no patient inside. Somemore so convenient happen during traffic jam.
So if my taxes are paying for the ambulans, I have the right to use its service whichever way I like. So I like lah, if I tailgate the ambulans to cilok the traffic.”
Light on + siren = make away
light on – siren = please give way
light off + siren off = drive normally.
KL drivers worse than IS with bombs, you think leh?
At least IS drivers only go 1 round then game over, Somalian drivers if no kill enough will go around and round again until satisfied. You think leh?
IS kills hundreds in 1 round, Somalian kills 1 at a time. So?
I would not say some ambulance driver are abusing their sirens.. FYI, ambulances have radio communication. we might turn on siren out of sudden because of duty called. Not having patients in the ambulance doesn’t mean we are abusing it. we need to rush to patient’s location in the shortest time from wherever we are. Every seconds count. When siren and beacon lights are on, there are 2 possibilities,
1. We are heading to hospital with patient under critical condition.
2. We are heading to patient’s location. That is y u dun see any patients in ambulance.
Tailgating an ambulance is the stupidest idea anyone can think of. we might brake suddenly when the car in front is not giving way or motorcycles and/or obstacles ahead or traffic lights or even junction. and we might need to slow down the ambulance suddenly when the patient need additional checks or medical attention needed to be given. We can’t work in a bumpy situation especially when it comes to needles. We don’t need extra patient to send to hospital.
does the drivers use waze?
“Do you think Malaysian drivers give way enough to ambulances, or are they just inconsiderate when it comes to this?”
Yes. In every instance I come across in JB, Malaysian drivers even in traffic jam, make effort to pull aside to give room for ambulance to pass through. My Singapore visitors tabik spring to Malaysian drivers when it comes to this aspect of Malaysian driving.
Emm I think its to pickup the Malaysian All Stars players. And thanks to that got 1-1 draw with overglorified Liverpool, when others expect them to loose by 6/7 goals
I say its a sacrifice well made.
Thumbs up!
Other drivers must realize that their shenanigans are costing precious seconds that could save a life.
in sabah mostly this van on siren when trafic jam.. i follow behind this van and no siren..but when infront jam, they on siren..
then what is this mean?
not this ambulance…stupid waja with siren also like this..
u also stupid 24 hours follow ambulance for what…
Reports like these are usually skewed by the human nature of remembering much of the bad that has happened to us while forgetting most of the good. However, in the case of ambulances, it must be remembered that for every occurrence of drivers disrupting ambulance pathways, there is a chance that someone will lose a father, a mother, a girlfriend, a husband, a daughter or whomever is in such a dire condition that warrants transport by ambulance.
Sure, I’ve no doubt that many Malaysian motorists would get out of the ambulance’s way. Heck, I’ve even seen some guy go off the road pretty abruptly (maybe he wasn’t paying attention?) in his/her effort to give way to the fast approaching ambulance. But as always, there are genuine jerks out there, and these jerks need to learn a thing or two about selflessness. Same to those hitchhiking in the wake of an ambulance. That’s basically express queue jumping.
“Malaysian Drivers”. Damn if only I have a meme for this.
Unfortunately its so common its not even funny.
Couldn’t have said it any better man… it’s sad because it’s so true. I feel like common courtesy has long gone extinct on our roads… all the more respect to all our ambulance drivers out there. But let us be the change we wish to see… and don’t lose hope, never lose hope !
Most drivers in Malaysia will give way for ambulance..but the attitude of tailgating was seen not for only the ambulances but for other sirens vehicles too…
Polis tak masuk?
Police catch bad man. If police no catch bad man, bad man shoot you and family. More people die. Ambulance only one man inside.
Bomba better. Bomba no spray water on fire, fire spread whole apartment burn down. 1000 people die.
Basically what should happen is cameras front and back. Tailgaters will get a fine, automatically. If you follow, you pay. Camera in front for people who don’t give way. Again a fine. If they delay may actually have caused a death, they will get charged with murder.
Of course if an ambulance is caught using the sirens without a patient/without being on the way to a patient then the driver gets a fine. You could log the times when the siren is on, and match it up with the times where the ambulance was actually trying to safe someone.
So kacang la drive ambulance..drive fast and selit2 so easy one..this also can make news ka?
u should have try to be one… I am an ambulance crew… Try to drive it when it come to the matters of life and death. Just imagine ur wife is giving labor and u r the ambulance driver.. We have to endure the pressure and keep calm all the time while doing pre-hospital checks and controlling patient’s condition from getting worse. making sure all the ppl in the ambulance arrive safely and most important saving the life a patient. we don’t do it to become a hero, we do it bcos we care and life is valuable.
For me, these are really angels from God. Their mercy & life saving effort are endless. Danger themselves to dangerous situation sometimes just to help people. Just have 1 mission, to make sure patients safe & alive. Really, pray & salute them. They deserve place in heaven.
I have been in ambulances several times with an elderly relative to and from hospital in non-emergency situations (the patient is bed-ridden and therefore unable to travel by conventional means).
Invariably, the ambulance driver will use their siren, even for short journeys, which I think is wholly unnecessary as it can inconvenience other road users, apart from adding to noise pollution (KL sounds more like NY city these days!!). This, I believe, is because they are private ambulance services and are paid per trip. Using their sirens minimises the time spent on the road and maximises the number of trips they can make. I wish these companies would have a policy of only using their sirens in legitimate emergencies.
I have been in ambulances several times with an elderly relative to and from hospital in non-emergency situations (the patient is bed-ridden and therefore unable to travel by conventional means).
Invariably, the ambulance driver will use their siren, even for short journeys, which I think is wholly unnecessary as it can inconvenience other road users, apart from adding to noise pollution (KL sounds more like NY city these days!!). This, I believe, is because they are private ambulance services and are paid per trip. Using their sirens minimises the time spent on the road and maximises the number of trips they can make. I wish these companies would have a policy of only using their sirens in legitimate emergencies.
I do think that the majority of drivers do attempt to make way for ambulances when they actually realise which direction they are coming from ( it isn’t always immediately obvious when we hear a siren that it’s approaching from behind us)
Unappreciated heroes…
Although most of drivers including me will give way to ambulance with both lights and siren on, it just need a scum driver (be it don’t give way or even tailgating them) to ruin everything.
My message is, those scums that refuse to give way to ambulance with blaring siren should just PERGI JAHANNAM. Same PERGI JAHANNAM message goes to the one that tailgating ambulance to escape traffic jam during rush hours (some say express queue cutter, these are the lowest life form of scum that need to get few beatings with a golf club towards their head).
i think sometimes people don’t want to give way, not because they are inconsiderate or just plain jerks, but is due to the lack of places for them to turn their vehicles to.
at where i live, i always saw some ambulance trying to get through a rather jam road, but the road itself is really small and there’s no way for other road users to make way for the ambulance (unless they want to “climb over” the divider in the middle or just drive pass the traffic light even when it is still red on their side). and at some of the traffic light junctions here, drive pass the traffic light when it is green on other side can be seriously dangerous.
so sometimes i do feel for those road users who may want to give way but simply can’t find any method to do so.