At times when you are on the road, you are bound to see police cars, ambulances or VIPs flashing blinkers and sirens meaning they are in a hurry. Well, they are always in a hurry to reach their point of destination and as a sign of courtesy, private and public vehicles know for a fact that they have to give way or clear the road to let them pass.
That is a common practice that is done anywhere in the world today and for sure, no one wants to get into trouble or be ticketed as an obstruction for refusing to give way. As a rational driver, emergency or not it would be wise to allow them to pass since you never know what could happen and may be held accountable in the end if the emergencies fail to reach their actual point of destination.
As far as having blinkers and sirens is concerned, there are some people who install them without licenses or permits. By doing so, you are placing yourself in a lot of trouble. In most countries, unless you are licensed or authorized to have such things installed on your car, it would be best to keep that thought clear.
These gadgets are normally restricted to the proper people commissioned to do them. It goes in hand with their work. Some use them for status symbol while others just want to feel powerful. They are used for a purpose. Do not install one unless you have the right to have them.
The advances in automobile technology has been so much that a great number of deaths are prevented especially due to the use of newer materials that has increased the safety of vehicles so much that they are literally cages within the car. Automotive manufacturers have installed airbags, seatbelt pre-tensioners and the use of exotic alloy metals/materials that are lighter yet several times stronger than normal steel are not common place that the term safety has translated into a total safety zone within the vehicle which prevents the passengers and driver from serious injury. This is a good thing for all of us till accidents occur and people get stuck in these types of vehicles with the best passenger protection technology installed.
Fire and rescue personnel are the ones who bear the brunt of injuries sustained during rescues from such vehicles. Airbags that are triggered by rescue people trying to free trapped people from crashes send the rescuers and the rescue both to the hospital. Regular extrication techniques are proving to be very ineffective as metals and composite materials need very expensive hydraulic systems such as the “Jaws of Life” which can cut the posts off a car in minutes. Those volunteer departments without enough funding cannot afford such equipment which translates to lost time in the critical period it takes to get a person out of the crashed vehicle to the hospital increasing the risk of death or permanent injury.
Firemen and rescue people are now being more careful in their trying to get people out trying to avoid hazards wasting time searching for the wires that send signals to the airbag systems and belt tensioners to free their patients. This might necessitate the need for more safety and rescue equipment which can be effective as the jaws was in it’s early days. Another solution may be a standardized emergency radio disabling system with a frequency that is unique to emergency situations which can disable such safety systems preventing injuries to rescuers as they try to save lives. Carbon fiber which is used in more exotic cars is a very difficult material to deal with for it is many times stronger than steel that only hydraulic cutters can deal with. Better measures such as improved budgets, training materials and re-training of personnel in how to deal with such materials should they need to be handled.
You’re driving down the road and as you come upon a corner you sudenly realize the brakes aren’t doing any good and the vehicle continues going forward, what do you do?
This is a real-world scenario that causes many accidents year after year and as with many other car troubles, totally avoidable (most of the time that is, there is the 1% in the 99% reliability of your brakes that it can fail without any apparent reason). The key is maintenance, for if there has been sufficient maintenance on the vehicle meaning all safety and vital systems are inspected on a regular basis, there should not be any problems like this. Maintenance gives owners a chance to find problems as they begin as with brakes, yoi can see fluid from the brake system on the pavement or on the wheel rims. Hoses might be cracked or for the unfortunate few, that rock or piece of steel you ran over might have severed a brake line (actually hose) and your car is bleeding vital brake fluid needed to stop safely. Enough of the sermon and back to the point, What do you do?
First, any sign of trouble whe in a car, hit the flasher lights to tell everybody that something is wrong. Check the area in front of you if there are any vehicles in the way, if there are then you have to find spot to go to without hurting anybody else. If you are on open road like the interstate or highway, you can try pumping the brake which might give you some stopping power and use the hand brakes intermittently till you get to a full stop, ideally off the road on the shoulder. Using the handbrake is effective, but do it slowly for pulling hard can cause the rear tires to lock and spin you in many ways than one.
The point is, to keep you calm for panic causes you to loose your objectivity. Most modern cars have dual brake systems where the front driver’s side wheel and the rear pasenger’s side wheel are connected and so are the opposite two. You can brake (but you might have to push a bit harder on the pedal) even with one system down and use the handbrake to augment them. For some more important information check out the NSC fro more details
Keep safe, drive carefully and get home safe.
