When you see a copcar/ambulance race by with its serin on,what are the chances it's actually a real emergeny?

Question

When you see a copcar/ambulance race by with its serin on,what are the chances it's actually a real emergeny?

Answer 1

Pretty darn good since most municipalities have strict rules on the use of sirens by emergency vehicles.

Answer 2

100 percent chance that it is an emergency because they would not do this and risk an accident just to go and do some personal business.....

Answer 3

100 percent. It's illegal for them to use their sirens at any other time, other than cops pulling you over.

Firey, Paramedic and Police service applicants are psych screened, and mature responsible people are picked from the group for many good reasons.

Answer 4

I guess that depends on how you define "a real emergency".

Let me elaborate.  I know the rules differ somewhat on this around the country, but in Ohio, when I ran fire and rescue, when we got a call to respond to a request for an ambulance we ALWAYS ran lights and siren to the scene.  This was because you could never under or overestimate the urgency of a call simply on the information dispatch got from the caller.  Someone might call in that "they don't know what's wrong" and the person is having a heart attack.  On the other hand, we'd get called out for something as non life threatening as a broken finger.  Either way, without knowing the information, we always had to respond as if it WAS life threatening.  One you arrived and found only a twisted ankle or a deep scratch, well, you tell me, was that a "real emergency?"

I suppose there are similar stories from the law enforcement side.

Answer 5

As an EMT, I can tell you that anytime dispatch calls us to a Priority 1 call, we will use our lights and sirens. Priority 1 calls are deemed life-threatning or can cause harm to one if not treated within an appropriate time. This can be a very broad category of calls..anything from cardiac arrest to a psych patient. Anything else that is not deemed at a Priority 1 level are dispatched as Priority 2, 3 or 4, which means lights and sirens will not be used because the situation is not deemed to be a life-threatning emergency.

Answer 6

That is not some thing for you to decide you are just suppose to pull over to the right and stop. It is not for you to worry about. You could spend  you time while stoppped learning how to spell and  good grammar.

Answer 7

It doesn't matter if what you think the chances are, the law says you need to yield.  If I come behind you with my lights and siren you had better get out of my way and quickly because I'm headed to a hot call or someone needs back-up.

Answer 8

In NYC we usually know it's real when we see it turn into a busy street and not those little one way quiet streets