Ambulances may speed when necessary, says Alberta Health

Yet another directive brought to you by the 'I'm eating my cookie' crowd. Silly notion, but if it's not an emergency, then why are you in the back of an Ambulance?

Morons. And those are the ones we let in public near reporters microphones.

Not every ambulance ride is a "hot" one. Transportation from one hospital from another doesn't need to be "hot".

That being said...

That is just ridiculous. That is WHY THEY HAVE THE LIGHTS AND headache starting NOISE ON so everybody knows they're coming! Those drivers are trained, they are not stupid. The rest of the people on the road SHOULD BE TRAINED too, but hey, getting your license at 16 while taught how to drive by your lousy driving dad leaves some room for improvement.

Not every ambulance ride is a "hot" one. Transportation from one hospital from another doesn't need to be "hot".

Those are normally accomplished by another service in parts of Alberta, called the 'Interhospital Transfer Service'. Not regular Ambulances. (My buddy is an EMT, and used to be manager of ITS).

But I agree with you. These guys get special training, and their vehicles are specially equipped to deal with high speed driving. If they are going to drive with the regular traffic flow, people could skip the $250 ambulance trip and drive themselves.

What carnage that would be!

Not every ambulance ride is a "hot" one. Transportation from one hospital from another doesn't need to be "hot".

Those are normally accomplished by another service in parts of Alberta, called the 'Interhospital Transfer Service'. Not regular Ambulances. (My buddy is an EMT, and used to be manager of ITS).

Oh, ok, I didn't know that! Learn something new every day

They aren't talking about exceptional high speeds either, expecially when carrying the patient. Having a cleared path is key and intersections are the danger point.

I understand that, but a full stop?

It's a little puzzling to be sure, regardless, I'm sure the crews will continue to use their best judgment WRT the patient and their safety.




I've said it before but I have no problem saying it again: Medics are friggin' angels.

Exactly. So why should they be told what to do? They KNOW what they are doing...


They definitely do a job I am not capable of, and I respect them wholeheartedly

If it's like other things I've come across, a big reason would be that the government will not give a blank cheque to anyone when it comes to operating outside of the law. It leaves the onus on the crews to make the judgement call on the criteria of each seperate case as it should be.