Should emergency services slow down?

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horseluver4eva

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So revently ive had a number of occassions coming in to contact with emergency services. Police cars and ambulances have always either stopped or at least stopped their lights and sirens when passing which i really appreciate and think its really good of them! yet today a fire engine come my horse was petrified with lights flashing and they seen us and this stupid voice started coming out the speakers. so i was stuck near a river with a rearing horse, had to jump off so we didnt go in the river and lead my scared *****less horse away. whilst doing so they sat and watched no joke. it was to put out a fire that was very small and there wasnt any flames. this may sound selfish of me but if one more step had been taken my horse would have fallen down the edge and in to the river. So whats your opinions/experiences with emergency vehicles? do you think they should slow down? even if its not an emergency? im sort of 2 sided because nor would i want somebody to suffer for longer! ps sorry for spelling mistakes on my phone
 
Gosh I really don't know! Interesting question.
Years back I was almost hit out riding by a stolen car on a single track road going flat out- closely followed by police with flashing lights. Scared the life out of me and the horse. I'd have been grateful if they slowed down but a fire engine or ambulance to a genuine call is different?!
 
Contact the local force and talk to them. They will want to avoid accidents. Ours are great with horses, they came to our yard to learn about horses and take it all very seriously.
 
Its a very interesting question.
I think, maybe they should slow down to a safe speed (maybe not as slow as you'd expect other cars) just slow enough so they would have chance to stop if needsbe. If they can turn lights/sirens off for a second that's a bonus!
But I wouldn't like to think that an ambulance stopping for me, caused someone to suffer longer
 
It should have turned off the sirens, I think there is something on the road safety FB page about emergency vehicles and horses. If they cause another accident because they are driving 'without due care' to other road users, then they can be charged with dangerous driving, even if they are on a shout. I would complain to be honest.
 
No - the choice between saving a life and injuring someone - saving a life must always be a priority. Normally when they are called out - they do not know how big the issue is - or how many lives are at risk. Handling a "bouncy" horse doesn't compare
 
I seriously am thinking about complaining. Its the fact that this wasnt even serious what so ever and yet when ive seen police cars and ambulances following each other it looks serious and yet theyve slowed down and turned off the sirens! i agree that by going to fix one accident its risking causing another
 
My brothers a fire officer - I think he told me, years ago, that they have to turn the blues & twos off even when passing a riding school. Not sure about the speed bit.
 
All emergency vehicles have to turn off lights and sirens and slow down to a maximum of 20mph when passing horses no matter how wide the road is.

We have come to an acommidation with our local emergency services - they can pass us as fast as they like with no lights or sirens and giving us plenty of room if we wave them on, if we ask them to slow down then they know we mean it because the horses won't cope. It works well for both parties.

We only ever had a problem with an out of area fire crew. They had 3 trucks, still blaring out the blues and twos, try to pass us on a narrow 2 lane road at at least 40mph. All 3 horses would have survived the first truck by spinning and bolting - straight into the second truck so we spread across the road and trotted to the nearest field entrance 20m along the road. Yeah trot turned into canter because the bloody things kept chasing us despite us asking them to slow down. We got into the field and promptly got totally bolted with. The support truck at the back stopped to check we were ok and promised to give the other 3 crews a rollicking as they could very, very easily have killed all of us. The only time we have met this team again they stopped and waited for us to pass so they must have paid attention.
 
Difficult one.
I understand that they have to get there as soon as possible, but they also need to get there safely. If they take 30 seconds extra just to slow down then they can hopefully prevent a further accident from happening.

I hope that most at least turn off the sirens/lights.
 
If he was just bouncy then it wouldnt of bothered me. Its because we were close to the river and this caused him to jump inches fron the huge drop to the river when the situation they were there for took about 2 minutes to fix... and all this started once they saw us!if it was more serious if of understood better
 
lhotse said:
It should have turned off the sirens, I think there is something on the road safety FB page about emergency vehicles and horses. If they cause another accident because they are driving 'without due care' to other road users, then they can be charged with dangerous driving, even if they are on a shout. I would complain to be honest.
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This.

I saw an emergency ambulance pass 2 horses on the road on Sunday. It came upon them round a blind bend, left the lights on but stopped the siren immediately it saw them. As it happened neither of the horses turned a hair. We did comment that better to take a second or two longer than have to stop and rescue the riders.

Flashing lights and sirens are there to warn other road users not to give the emergency vehicle right of way. For instance if they go across a red light and have a crash, they are at fault.
 
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any emergency service i have met has kept going - but slowly with noise off

my boy went down the road one day - met 2 fire engines with lights going....he took no notice of these...but the freshly laid tarmac in patches on the road COULD KILL HIM

the look that the driving men gave us were funny..... and once passed all the others lent out the window once we passed....just to see if we coped with the fire engine - we were still spooking at the tarmac we were walking on.....

how ever the the fire they went to was in a chicken farm, very very local - all chickens died and fire couldnt be controlled well, so i do wonder that if they hadnt slowed it may have been a better outcome
my horse would have coped with them going passed at high speed.....
 
Pearlsasinger ill have a look at this! as many people are saying you are also risking a huge accident to be caused! theres some horses that could go back on you killing you when you think about it, and if they caused that then thats another emergency they have to deal with!
 
EllenJay said:
No - the choice between saving a life and injuring someone - saving a life must always be a priority. Normally when they are called out - they do not know how big the issue is - or how many lives are at risk. Handling a "bouncy" horse doesn't compare
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That's not true. If they cause an accident on their way, they must, by law, stop. Therefore, the original victim must then wait longer. They should do nothing on that journey to endanger anyone else. Should they plough through a zebra crossing full of school kids because someone called 999?? No, they must always drive with consideration to other road users. That is why, when there are road accidents involving a response vehicle, there is always a full investigation, and if the driver is found to be at fault, they will be charged.
 
Hmmm I'd never thought about the possibility of encountering emergency vehicles whilst riding. Surely they should have a protocol in place for passing riders, although I imagine they don't encounter them very often.

I wonder if they would bring the vehicles to the yard to do some de-spooking training
 
There is a part of a hack which takes us close to the local hospital and have had a few ambulances pass us and they have alway turned their sirens off, passed wide but not any slower.
However once the sirens are off they are no worse than the usual white van man that often passes with no care or attention as his delivery is obviously too important to slow down :rolleyes:
I was on a hack when a fire engine went past, no sirens but my friends horse freaked out but I think that was due to the size and noise of the thing...you don't realise how big they are until your up close, not their fault at all.
I agree with lhotse that no emergency service should put someone or anyone else in danger on their way to an incident but I'm afraid selfishly if I thought that they were delayed to a member if my family due to having to stop for a rider unable to control their horse then I would be really peeved.
 
I remember a similar post and I was cross as a police car came right up backside (i mean within inches) and we had no where to go. I heard it coming and I was alongside a wall. I thought we were going to be gonners and end up an emergency ourselves. However horse didnt bat an eyelid. But boy was I furious.

However the response I got was it shouldnt be on the road if it cant deal with the emergency services and they cant slow down if ie a baby stops breathing etc etc fire etc etc.

I am not sure of the answer ie right and wrong. But I think its worth contacting them locally to remind them etc it may help.
 
But a horse is a living animal and a fire engine with sirens blaring is not something that you encounter very often at all, so any horse could react in a bad way. It's not just a matter of control. A few seconds to slow down and prevent an accident, thus meaning that they arrive at the scene, rather than having to stop and another response unit being sent, surely that is preferable. That said, if the rider can hear something approaching, and reach a safe place such as someone's driveway, then it's always best to get out of the way.
 
They should have switched off their sirens and slowed down to a safe speed if not stopped.
I would visit your local fire station and explain what happened and I am sure that they willl ensure that next time they take more care when they meet a horse.
There is little point in causing an accident on the way to an emergency call out.
 
Depends if I'm on the horse or in the ambulance to be honest! If I'm on the horse I'd quite possibly be uber selfish and want them to slow down a bit, and ditch the sirens etc. However, having been in the back of an ambulance in a serious situation I wanted them to get to the hospital as fast as humanly possible. I've ended up jogging sideways down / across a busy road (on horseback i hasten to add) after a high speed ambulance went past but quite frankly I'd rather that than someone miss a critical window of time for medical care. Having had a stroke, I can assure you that every second counts!
 
They always without fail turn the sirens off when going past my yard. But once a crash up the road and traffic build up while i was on a hack coming back, (had to get close to get back in the field) meant one went by with lights and all. I took my horse onto the pavement, and let them by, they could see my horse wasnt a problem and i waved them on. A human's life is far more important in my opinion. I'd rather have to stop than them.
 
Yes, if you can get out of the way safely, but if I was on a narrow road with nowhere to hide, I'm afraid my life comes first!!!
 
EllenJay said:
No - the choice between saving a life and injuring someone - saving a life must always be a priority. Normally when they are called out - they do not know how big the issue is - or how many lives are at risk. Handling a "bouncy" horse doesn't compare
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That's a bit daft TBH,am pretty sure the emergency services don't view it that way either!!

They have a responsibility to keep all others road users and members of the public safe when attending any call out.

It takes seconds to slow down and pass horses safely,probably not going to mean the difference between life or death in reality,but it could mean the difference between having one or multiple casualties.

To answer the question,I would expect a sensible approach from any emergency service and if I were you OP I would make a complaint or at least make a 'friendly' call to advise them of the potential dangers of such driving behaviour.
 
EllenJay said:
No - the choice between saving a life and injuring someone - saving a life must always be a priority. Normally when they are called out - they do not know how big the issue is - or how many lives are at risk. Handling a "bouncy" horse doesn't compare
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No offence intended whatsoever EllenJay, but your post has been playing on my mind.

Most horses don't come across emergency vehicles whizzing past with sirens blazing very often, if at all. It would certainly send my boy into a complete blind panic I think, which on a road could mean the emergency services will be having a few more lives to save.

My boy is great on the roads generally speaking, fine with tractors, trailers etc, a bit bouncy but controllable with big lorrys passing close by. To my knowledge he has never encountered the blues and twos whizzing past him at high speed, and I am not sure how I can teach him that without sending him to police horse school.

I think a few seconds lost preventing an accident by passing slower and with sirens etc off is the way to go.

Or perhaps all us bloody horse riders should be banned from the roads entirely :o
 
Cop-Pop said:
I think they should - if they don't there could be another emergency to attend!
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on the other hand, if they were carrying my child who was in need of emergency life or death treatment in hospital, I would not want them stopping or slowing down for every horse they came across. if horses are on the roads, it should be one of the things they are desensitized to.
 
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