Lahore motorists asked not to follow ambulances to save time

ISLAMABAD - Motorists in the city of Lahore, Pakistan have been asked not to follow ambulances in their bid to save time and avoid stopping at traffic signals or traffic jams.

According to a Rescue 1122 spokesperson said that it has become a common behaviour of the general public to tail ambulances.

“I have seen people doing this myself, just to get out of traffic jams, which is highly unethical. However, there are some commuters who understand the emergency and cooperate by giving way to the ambulance,” the Daily Times quoted him as saying.

He also revealed that a number of motorists have had accidents, as the ambulances do not always take the normal route to reach hospitals.

“It is really difficult for us to tell people not to follow the ambulance because it’s obvious that we are in a hurry and do not have the time to verbally tell commuters to give us way,” Edhi ambulance service worker Faisal Jalal said.

“Our ambulance drivers often complain about the fact that commuters will start following us because they know that the traffic rules do not apply to us if our siren is active.

“Also, the cars ahead of us sometimes stay in front of us so they can also easily manoeuvre through the traffic, which creates problems for us and affects our speed.

“All I can do is to appeal to the public to stop this practice and think like an educated society,” he added. (ANI)