Today’s Headlines

The Fort Hamilton Parkway story is insane.

First off, I make the obligatory mention of how the ambulances could get through much more easily if there were no private cars tying up traffic.

Second, neither EMTs or paramedics are qualified to pronounce someone dead. If an “ambulance technician” said that someone died in the ambulance, he or she wasn’t doing their job: start CPR and continue until reaching the hospital.

To put it bluntly, until there’s some death certificate and explanation procured, I’m going to say that Dov Hikind is full of sh*t. The comments on that SI Live article are just as bad.

I guess one comment on the street sign issue is that an equal increase in the ability to read the signs could be accomplished by a reduction in the speed limit.

The Australian study found motorists at fault 87% of the time, but instead of recommending motorist education, they recommend cyclist education? Great, let’s call the safety campaign “Look out for dangerous illegal motorists or you’ll be sorry!”

CO — The idea that something besides other motor vehicles are slowing ambulances down is hysteria, yes.

@Casual Observer,

No, I haven’t heard of any cases where getting to a hospital a few minutes earlier would have made the difference between leading decades of productive life versus dying, and that’s all we’re talking about here-a few minutes delay at most, not hours. There’s even a study to back me up on this:

http://www.slate.com/id/2253638/

When you factor in the number of people killed by speeding emergency vehicles, I seriously think there might be a net loss of lives, not a net gain. Also, one needs to consider what led that patient in the speeding ambulance to require being rushed to the hospital in the first place. Were they an innocent victim of an accident, or a bystander hit by a stray bullet? If so, then by all means take all measures to save them. On the other hand, if they somehow caused their own condition by poor lifestyle choices, then why should others be put at risk by a speeding ambulance just so they can possibly be saved. I know in most cases emergency responders are unaware of the reasons the patient needs help. Even if they were, it’s not up to them to make a value judgement. I’m just throwing this out as something to think about. Sure, I absolutely feel for that heart attack victim being rushed to a hospital. By the same token, if he/she put themselves in this position by years of abusing their body, I seriously question why healthy, productive bystanders should risk being run down by the ambulance they’re in. And yes, my father was exactly in this position. He had a heart attack bought on by a poor lifestyle. He waited over a day before deciding to call an ambulance. At that point it wouldn’t have mattered if they had gotten him to the hospital in 2 seconds or 2 days. He was beyond medical help. I wonder how many people being rushed to hospitals made a similar decision to delay seeking medical help by hours or even days? And in this context we should worry about taking 2 minutes longer to get them to the hospital?

Also, I’m not flippant about saving a sick person’s life, especially when that person can lead decades of productive life afterwards. What I’m flippant of is some idiot politician trying to gain brownie points by making uninformed comments. Even if hypothetically one or two patients a year die because of supposed delays caused by these pedestrian islands, I tend to think more lives than that might be saved by these islands. Every single day I read about yet another person hit by a motor vehicle. Every single day nationally over 100 die as a result of motor vehicle accidents. Why we just quietly accept this carnage is beyond me. If the cause were anything else, you would have politicians all over it. Why the free pass for motor vehicles?

Hey, while we’re talking about pedestrian islands, let’s get rid of all of ’em. Let’s start with Park Avenue in Manhattan. I bet the trees in that center median could fall and kill someone. Or a car might have hit the raised median and killed a driver.

And think of all the space that would be opened up for more cars. We could even make the center island an emergency lane!

@Casual Observer,

A lot of what is being discussed here was already discussed:

http://www.streetsblog.org/2010/11/05/marcia-kramer-exposes-the-threat-of-pedestrian-refuges/

Look at comment #17:

“And as a physician, I can tell you that there are very few medical emergencies where a minute or two makes a difference. It certainly DOES make a difference if the ambulance violates traffic laws and were to crash into pedestrians or other cars.”

Here we have what I said earlier coming from a doctor. Even allowing that seconds or minutes count in emergencies despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, if you have to place other people’s lives at risk to save those seconds, as emergency vehicles frequently do, what are you gaining? Kill one person, usually healthy and productive, to save another who might be beyond saving anyway?

What is really happening here is politicians are getting desperate. They’re coming out with any excuse at all to avoid implementing any measures which benefit pedestrians or cyclists at the expense of motorists. Blocking emergency vehicles is just the latest one. Let’s play to public sympathies that maybe your loved one won’t get to the hospital in time because of those evil pedestrian islands. In truth, I think the only “emergency vehicle” which Dov Hikind doesn’t want blocked is the one he travels around in. Anyone really concerned about keeping roads clear for emergency vehicles would seek measures which actively penalize private car ownership and use, including limiting on-street parking and also the times during which personal vehicles can be used.