Emergency personnel face risks

BY LAUREL MYERS

Enforcing the law and providing roadside assistance is inherently dangerous for police, fire and other emergency workers.  Emergency personnel stopped for an incident at the side of the road are often in danger and placed in close proximity to vehicles travelling at extremely high rates of speed.

On April 3, 2003, a new legislation, to increase the safety of emergency workers, came into effect through the Ontario Highway Traffic Act.

The Act now requires motorists to slow down and pass with caution when approaching a police, fire or ambulance vehicle stopped with its red lights flashing in the same direction of travel, either in a lane or on the shoulder of the road.

“Should it be a multi-lane highway, the onus is on the driver to slow down and move completely into another lane,” said Gary Lavoie, Greater Sudbury Police Service (GSPS) traffic sergeant.

According to the Ministry of Public Safety and Security, since 1995, several members of the Ontario Provincial Police have been killed as a direct result of a motor vehicle collision when their cruisers were parked on the shoulder of the road. In the United States, some 200 police officers lost their lives in a similar fashion.

“That’s my biggest fear out here, is wondering one day if that vehicle is going to plow into my police vehicle or if I’m going to step out of my vehicle and they’re going to just tear the whole door off,” said Const. Claudio Nazzero of the GSPS Traffic Unit. “It’s always in the back of my head. It’s very scary sometimes.”

There are two separate offences under the legislation: one is failing to slow down and proceed with caution for emergency vehicles, which would apply to a two-lane highway, and the second is failing to move into another lane for emergency vehicles, which would apply to a four-lane highway.

Despite countless tickets being issues recently, Lavoie said some people still aren’t getting the message.

“Over the past year, we’ve laid countless charges in relation to this,” he said. “Some people know about it, some people don’t, even though it’s been publicized through the media.”

For a first offence, the penalty is a $400 to $2,000 fine. For a second or subsequent offence, occurring within five years of the first offence, the fine is $1,000 to $4,000, with up to six months of possible jail time, and possible suspension of the individual’s driver’s licence for up to two years.

All convictions will result in the addition of three demerit points to a driver’s record.

Being on the front lines, Nazzero can attest to the lack of awareness of the legislation.

“There’s no reason for them not to pull over when it’s open,” he said. “Sometimes I have to wave them over, they just don’t understand.

“And sometimes when I’m sitting in my cruiser doing the paper work for someone I’ve pulled over, my whole car will shake because people haven’t moved over.”