Health Care, 'Murrican Style

[Minimalist]

Less about health but all about the money.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/05/woman-ki...h-to-take/

It's legally required to get the fuck out of the way when an ambulance is coming through. Had she survived and the person in the ambulance died, she could have been charged with involuntary manslaughter.

You got me curious, Losty, because generally speaking you are right. Now this is one of the advantages or disadvantages of having all the time in the fucking world on your hands but I went looking for the original reports on the accident.  And found them.  They reported that the accident happened at the intersection of Rts 600 North and 500 West and with the help of Google Maps....ta da...here it is.

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Now, Rt 600 is the street where the two dump trucks are and they are heading in the same direction as the ambulance was.  Rt 500 W, and this is a little hard to see, is slightly offset so that one cannot drive straight across without making a slight turn to the left.  The SUV would have been behind where the second dump truck is passing.  Now, note the two trees on the far side of the road especially the one at the edge of the photo.  The branches are practically touching the ground and they are fully leafed out because the street maps shot was taken in July of 2015.  The trees would not have appeared much different in September when the accident happened.  It also would have been hot and humid as it frequently is in the mid-west which means the A/C on, windows closed, and (probably) the radio blaring. 

The SUV, if stopped at the intersection would have been preparing to cross Rt 600 in order to continue on Rt 500.  We'll never know if she heard the sirens or not but it is entirely possible that she was creeping up to see around the second tree when she got clipped by the ambulance.  If that were the whole story I'd say the driver of the SUV was fully at fault but, the original story specified that the ambulance was doing 85 mph.  On a two-lane country rd, approaching an intersection which obviously has some kind of traffic control devices, installed?  That seems reckless to me given the road conditions.  For that matter, the homeowner should have cut a few of the lower branches off that tree, too.
There's plenty of blame to go around here.

Out here the rule is if you hear a siren you pull over and stop until it goes by.  Many is the time that they are practically on top of you before you hear the siren but there is still usually time to pull over.  Still, even with that, I have never seen an ambulance or fire truck blow through an intersection at full speed.  They always slow down to make sure someone isn't pulling out of the side street.