Siren sounds on safety

The State Emergency Service’s Natalie Stanway said motorists sometimes acted dangerously around emergency vehicles en route to incidents.

“When we have our lights and sirens on what we need people to do is pull over safely. What we do not need is for people to speed up or to just stop, which can sometimes happen,” she said.

“I think for some people there is an instinctual reaction. People don’t necessarily know what to do in that moment. Instinct takes over.”

Ms Stanway said people should not endanger themselves by doing anything illegal, even if it did help create a path for emergency vehicles.

“If we come up on you in that situation we will often turn our sirens off. We will leave the lights on but we will wait there until the traffic lights turn green,” she said.

“We don’t want people pulling illegally into the intersection because that is not safe for anybody.”

CFA community engagement officer Paul Tangey echoed those warnings, saying common sense needed to prevail.

“Please don’t veer across lanes without looking. Also, in Bendigo people need to remember there are tram tracks running down the main street. Don’t cut a tram off,” he said.

Mr Tangey said most drivers were cooperative with emergency service vehicles when they flashed lights and turned on sirens.

The Bendigo Highway Patrol’s Geoff Annand said there were some instances in which drivers simply did not get out of the way for police cars’ lights and sirens.

“It’s either ignorance, obliviousness or they don’t care,” Sergeant Annand said.

“We just have to wait for a safe opportunity to get past the vehicle.

“If the incident is deemed to be serious enough the police will follow up with the owner and driver at a later date.”

Sergeant Annand said motorists should always move to the left so that emergency vehicles could pass – whether that be into a left hand lane or to the side of the road.