A Levittown-area fire company posted a message to the public following a crash that involved one of their vehicles.
Advertisements
“PLEASE move to the right and stop to allow the emergency vehicle to pass. Far too many times we see drivers that are completely oblivious to us and fail to uphold their responsibility to do this which not only causes unnecessary delays, but also makes an already tedious situation worse when we have to try to navigate the mess that gets created by inattentiveness,” the Penndel Fire Company posted to social media.
On Tuesday evening around 10:30 p.m. while heading to the scene of a crash on Veterans Highway in Middletown, a Penndel Fire Company SUV belonging to an assistant chief wrecked while trying to avoid a driver who turned in front of the vehicle. Neither the assistant fire chief or driver of the other vehicle were injured.
In Pennsylvania, state law requires that drivers pull to the side when an emergency vehicle with activated warning devices is approaching. A 2012 state Superior Court decision stated that even vehicles on the opposite side of the roadway must move to the side when an emergency vehicle is coming through.
Advertisements
Here is the full message from Penndel Fire Company Chief Chuck Fox:
As we normally post the “good” stuff, we must also post the not-so-good stuff. At approximately 22:30 hrs on Tuesday 8/7 and while en route to a report of a motor vehicle accident with injuries, Assistant Chief Bill McCool was involved in an accident in the 1200 block of Durham Rd. As Bill was attempting to pass a line of stopped vehicles to their left with visual and audible warning devices activated, the driver of the first vehicle in the line attempted to make a left turn in to an apartment complex and turned in to the path of our vehicle. Bill took immediate evasive action but was unable to avoid the collision. Bill was uninjured and the other driver refused medical treatment at the accident scene. I’ve decided to post this to get the message out to the motoring public that when an emergency vehicle is approaching, PLEASE move to the right and stop to allow the emergency vehicle to pass. Far too many times we see drivers that are completely oblivious to us and fail to uphold their responsibility to do this which not only causes unnecessary delays, but also makes an already tedious situation worse when we have to try to navigate the mess that gets created by inattentiveness. I will also mention that as I was personally driving our Rescue truck on Friday night, I witnessed a driver move from the left lane of Lincoln Highway in to the ONCOMING hi-speed lane in an attempt to move over for us. DO NOT EVER DO THIS! If there is nowhere to safely pull to the right, wait until there is. We will not run you over and will wait until the lane is clear before we proceed around you, s
