Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/26/83; site ihuxl.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!microsoft!uw-beaver!cornell!vax135!ariel!houti!hogpc!houxm!hocda!spanky!burl!we13!ihnp4!ihuxl!seifert From: seifert@ihuxl.UUCP Newsgroups: net.auto Subject: whatever happened to sirens? Message-ID: <446@ihuxl.UUCP> Date: Mon, 18-Jul-83 09:14:57 EDT Article-I.D.: ihuxl.446 Posted: Mon Jul 18 09:14:57 1983 Date-Received: Tue, 19-Jul-83 21:46:24 EDT Organization: BTL Naperville, Il. Lines: 53 I sent this out Friday, but I think it fell in a black hole. If it is a duplicate, sorry. ------------------------------------------------ <<< warning, put nomex on now! >>> Hello, fellow net.auto readers, today I did something unusual, I went home for lunch. Not in any big hurry, I turned into a blind corner, and SURPRISE! there is an ambulance coming right at me, lights flashing, but making about as much noise as your typical librarian. Fortunately, the collision was avoided. This may be attributed to: (a) the grace of God, (b) skill, (c) luck, (d) some combination of the above. << flame on >> HOWEVER, I thought the whole incident to be a little bit unnecessary, considering that all the IDIOT had to do was flip the little toggle switch and turn on the siren. Flashing lights on emergency vehicles don't show up too well in bright daylight. Yes, I realize that sirens make noise and may bother people. Isn't that the idea? Hearing a siren warns you that there is an emergency vehicle nearby which is in a hurry and therefore may not be following all of the normal "rules of the road", such as stopping at signs/lights, staying on their side of the road, etc. Then you can watch out for it and stay out of the way. Right? This isn't an isolated incident. I have observed other close calls do to idiots running around without sirens on. In fact, hearing a siren around here is an extremely rare event. Why? I suspect there is some official 'leave the sirens off' policy. If so, I would like to see this policy changed. << flame off >> possible improvement: if they don't want to run a hyper-loud siren all the time, how about a two level siren? The first level would be say 100 db and would be on whenever driving in "emergency mode". The second level would be extra loud, say 130 db, and used only when needed, on demand. Survey time: (1) is this stupidity going on in other parts of the country? (2) do you vote for or against sirens? mail replies to me, I will summarize to the net. yours for the elimination of 'stealth' emergency vehicles, Dave Seifert Windy City BMW Club ihnp4!ihuxl!seifert