Watch out for emergency vehicles

Engine 30 sustained damage on the drivers side when it collided with a passing vehicle on the Downtown Connector.

(John Spink, jspink@ajc.com)

The incident happened just before 5:30 a.m. on I-75/85 southbound past Langford Parkway. Fire crews responded to a reported car fire, but discovered on arrival that there was a disabled vehicle, but no fire, Atlanta fire Battalion Chief Paul Cuprowski told the AJC.

Cuprowski said the engine remained on the scene to block traffic for the stranded motorist. The driver was sitting in the fire engine when another motorist struck the left front of the engine, Cuprowski said. He said the firefighter sustained a side injury and possibly a head injury, and was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital for treatment. His injuries were not believed to be serious. The motorist that hit the fire engine was not injured. Cuprowski said that incidents where emergency vehicles are struck by other motorists are “unfortunately not uncommon.”

Other drivers sometimes “get tunnel vision and get drawn into the lights,” he said. The chief had advice for motorists when they approach emergency vehicles stopped along the highway. “A lot of this evolves from rubber-necking,” he said. “The best thing you can do is move over as far as you can and keep your eyes on the road, and not on the incident.”

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This incident stresses the need for the driving public to use extreme caution when driving in the vicinity of a medical emergency, fire, or other incident that has occurred either in the roadway or in the emergency lane. Here are some tips that, hopefully, will keep you and the responders out of harm's way:

Be wary of developing tunnel vision. This is especially true at night when driver's are "hypnotized" and get drawn into the lights of an emergency vehicle.If you see lights flashing, go ahead and move over one (1) lane (normally to the left) before you get too close to the scene.

Be alert for emergency personnel and/or other drivers. Although emergency personnel make every effort to "box in" a highway emergencies - meaning they surround it with their vehicles - however emergency personnel might still be in the lane(s) where traffic is still moving.

Stay off your cellphone when driving near a roadside emergency. Cellphone usage is dangerous when driving but becomes potentially deadly when there is a roadside emergency. The combination of personnel - or civilians - in the roadway along with emergency vehicles demands your full attention and you can't devote that if you're talking on the cellphone.

Don't rubber-neck! Battalion Chief Cuprowski summed it up best: "The best thing you can do is move over as far as you can and keep your eyes on the road, and not the incident".

Until next time . . .