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How can someone behave so unconscionably?

A driver in Singapore was caught on camera refusing to give way to an ambulance. He was fined S$160 (RM385) and got four demerit points on his driving record.

According to the news report, both vehicles were on the right lane of a three lane highway and the driver refused to give way to the ambulance despite its blaring siren and flashing red lights. The ambulance driver was forced to move to the centre lane in order to bypass the car.

How could someone be so selfish?

One of the most impressive examples of mass civic mindedness was while I was driving along Euston Road in London, heading westwards one evening. I was just coming up to a traffic light junction when there were flashing blue lights then I heard sirens. Instinctively (this was at a time of IRA bombs and 'suspicious packages') I began to look around for the source of the lights and in my rearview mirror, saw the cars directly behind me pulling to the side, just as I reached the junction and the traffic light turned red. I was the first car at the red light. The ambulance was coming up fast right behind me. What was I going to do? What I supposed to do? The light was red against me.

Then I realised that although the lights were green in favour of the cars on the road crossing in front of me, not one of the vehicles was moving. Four lanes of traffic remained firmly behind the line – giving way. I dashed over the junction just as the ambulance reached my tail then pulled to the side for the ambulance to pass me.

It is a driving incident that made a huge impression on me because although the drivers were individuals, they thought collectively and their single thought was not for the rush they might have been in but that someone was desperately waiting to hear those sirens.

Although I haven't seen selfishness to the extent displayed by the Singapore driver, I have nevertheless, seen a nasty level of indifference from Malaysian drivers to ambulance sirens - drivers trundling along, oblivious to sirens up to the moment that the ambulance is right on their bumpers. It usually takes a few more seconds of siren blasts and flashing lights for the drivers to notice and take action - look for a break in the traffic to move aside for the ambulance.

That's when I want to scream because the cars on the left refuse to speed up or slow down to allow the car into their lane. What is going on in their heads? Do they not understand that every second counts? After all, it is an ambulance – someone's life is dependant on it's speedy arrival. It's not like its a motorcade for some jumped up self-important plonker whose over-inflated ego is too stellar to sit in a traffic jam like the rest of us lowly proletariat.

The excuses I've heard from educated, intelligent people have shocked me too with one person recounting how, once when she was stuck in a jam, seated in a coach, she looked into an ambulance and despite the siren and lights, could see that there was no one in the back. It convinced her that ambulance drivers used their sirens because they didn't want to sit in jams and that's why she didn't bother moving aside for ambulances. It apparently didn't occur to her that the ambulance was empty because it was on its way to an emergency...

I had a friend who had had a heart attack. His wife called an ambulance. He said the time it took to arrive and for him to get to hospital was the most excruciating 45 minutes in his life. The pain in his chest was one part of the horror. The other was the fear that he would die before he got to the hospital because “some damned selfish bastard just wouldn't give way”! Every time he felt the ambulance begin to slow down his agonised heart sank. He despaired that he would die and leave his wife to bring up their 9 year old son on her own.

My friend survived his heart attack and got to see his son grow up into a young man. Sadly, he died after a car accident. This time, he didn't get to the hospital in time.

The next time you hear the emergency services, just get out of the way. It won't kill you.