I live in the Bingham Tract area. I would like to know why emergency vehicles blare their sirens in the early morning when passing through a residential area. Wouldn't flashing lights be sufficient? Emergency drivers think
safety first in using sirensThe major considerations are safety and liability, although drivers of emergency vehicles do have some discretion when noise may be an issue.
By law, you are not operating an emergency vehicle unless both lights and sirens are on. Thus, if an emergency vehicle driver, not using a siren, gets into an accident, he could be held liable.
"Generally, you want to err on the side of public safety," said police Maj. Robert Prasser, head of HPD's communications/911 section. For police, "You want the public to know you're out there, not only from the traffic safety standpoint, but also for the people at the scene desperately waiting for a police response."
Sometimes, sirens "alone may stop some action before it becomes worse," he said. It's like hearing the cavalry coming in the movies.
"People shouldn't look at (sirens) as a nuisance," said fire Battalion Chief Kent Hamasaki. "We're not out there to aggravate people; we're there as a service."
However, noise is "one of the biggest complaints we face almost daily," acknowledged Donnie Gates, chief of operations for the city's Emergency Medical Services Division.
Fire and EMS officials allow drivers to use their judgment in certain situations.
HFD's policy, for example, states, "When it is desirable and necessary to dispense with the siren to curtail noise, such as near hospitals or when approaching the scene of a possible suicide, apparatuses shall be operated as non-
emergency vehicles," subject to all traffic regulations. The lights must remain on, however.
Gates put it this way: "If it's 3 a.m. going down a highway when there is not a car in sight," then there's really no need for a siren.
EMS is trying to find ways to reduce noise safely and legally. Ambulance drivers, for instance, can elect to use only one of two speakers mounted in the front of each vehicle, Gates said.
New ambulances also are equipped with the Opticom system, which allows drivers approaching an intersection to activate a sensor atop a traffic light, giving them the green light to go through. This would reduce the need for sirens, Gates said.
Right now, 300 traffic lights at the busiest intersections are equipped with Opticom sensors.
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