Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!eagle!mhuxt!mhuxi!mhuxa!houxm!ihnp4!ixn5c!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!uiuccsb!purtilo From: purtilo@uiuccsb.UUCP Newsgroups: net.auto Subject: Re: whatever happened to sirens? - (nf) Message-ID: <2484@uiucdcs.UUCP> Date: Thu, 21-Jul-83 22:29:22 EDT Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.2484 Posted: Thu Jul 21 22:29:22 1983 Date-Received: Fri, 22-Jul-83 21:27:52 EDT Lines: 47 #R:ihuxl:-44600:uiuccsb:5800001:000:2399 uiuccsb!purtilo Jul 21 13:42:00 1983 Concerning ambulances and the (un)necessary use of sirens ... >From my experience, there is just as much danger in the over-use as in the under-use of "running hot". The danger in the under-use of sirens is the obvious traffic problem that started this sequence of notes. Well, that certainly is a danger, but any chauffer that would be all over the road to the point of risking such a head-on sounds like he is a menace with or without sirens. But how about the over-use: emergency personnel are taught that sirens only ask for the right of way, only the other drivers can give it. That's the theory. But clearly there are the jerks who enjoy asserting themselves at every opportunity when behind the wheel of a vehicle which has lots of noise makers. I know of towns where sirens are over-used to the point that folks on the street don't bother to pay any respect to them; the citizens (perhaps justly) figure the crew is just off to dinner. This is dangerous because there is that rare run when you really do need to run hot and no one is in a hurry to give you right of way. There is also the (very small percentage of) towns where hearing lots of sirens (usually of just one particular type, say, the "high-low" kind) is the only way to alert the village of natural threats, tornados and such. I worked in just such a village; any big fire we had would routinely illicit calls from folks out in the boonies wondering whether the sirens were a warning. But the most important situation in which we would avoid the use of sirens was with the ambulance in transportation of certain cardiac and stroke patients. In some of these situations, the patient is partially conscious to what has been going on, and their (very understandable) fears about what nasties have befallen them are many times amplified by the enzyme and oxygen instabilities which in themselves induce symptoms which resemble anxiety. This is the touchiest kind of shock to deal with. Now, years of TV shows have programmed the public into believing that a trip in an ambulance which feels more like a roller coaster, coupled with loud sirens, is a sure sign that they're gonna die. In this kind of situation, it is better to run quiet and let a smooth tongued paramedic talk a patient into surviving. I have seen it done. Just to let you know there are a couple sides to things ... Jim Purtilo ...!uiucdcs!purtilo