Passing on the right drastically increases the likelihood of accidents for almost everyone involved. The (effective) blind spot on the left side of a vehicle versus the right side is tiny.
And while I won’t rule out different regions having different laws: To my knowledge, basically every single variation is “Pull off to the right side of the road unless the ambulance is right behind you and trying to turn right”. Just stopping where you are is a good way to force the emergency vehicle to slalom through traffic and increases the likelihood of degraded care (or even injury) in the back.
Which adds on to why an ambulance should generally not try to pass on the right. If a vehicle is stopped right in front of you, something is wrong. That means they are likely to open a door, suddenly accelerate and try to move over, etc. Its a decision, but it is one that adds delays. And even a slight delay can be fatal if you are at the point where you actually need an ambulance.
Don’t they also send a signal of some kind, like a strobe at a particular frequency among their lights, that can be detected by (some) traffic lights to override them and turn them green? Maybe driverless cars should be able to percieve and react to this?
A human increases the odds of an accident drastically. Especially when they suddenly “come out of nowhere” while someone passing legally is trying to shift back right.
In this case? Someone is already clearly ignoring the rules of the road (if not the law). There is no guarantee they don’t end up sideswiping the ambulance, opening their door randomly, etc. Which results in more injuries… likely including the paramedics themselves.
Passing on the right drastically increases the likelihood of accidents for almost everyone involved. The (effective) blind spot on the left side of a vehicle versus the right side is tiny.
And while I won’t rule out different regions having different laws: To my knowledge, basically every single variation is “Pull off to the right side of the road unless the ambulance is right behind you and trying to turn right”. Just stopping where you are is a good way to force the emergency vehicle to slalom through traffic and increases the likelihood of degraded care (or even injury) in the back.
Which adds on to why an ambulance should generally not try to pass on the right. If a vehicle is stopped right in front of you, something is wrong. That means they are likely to open a door, suddenly accelerate and try to move over, etc. Its a decision, but it is one that adds delays. And even a slight delay can be fatal if you are at the point where you actually need an ambulance.
Too bad ambulances don’t have a massive wall of flashing lights or something that would make them noticeable.
Better on left doesn’t mean never on right. What about when a human does the same thing?
Don’t they also send a signal of some kind, like a strobe at a particular frequency among their lights, that can be detected by (some) traffic lights to override them and turn them green? Maybe driverless cars should be able to percieve and react to this?
at lest here they have a button in the ambulance to turn lights green
A human increases the odds of an accident drastically. Especially when they suddenly “come out of nowhere” while someone passing legally is trying to shift back right.
In this case? Someone is already clearly ignoring the rules of the road (if not the law). There is no guarantee they don’t end up sideswiping the ambulance, opening their door randomly, etc. Which results in more injuries… likely including the paramedics themselves.