The Ambulance Driver.

This morning I was sat at a bus stop alongside Bristol Royal Infirmary. It is a busy hospital with a lot of foot and vehicular traffic, plus of course regular appearances of emergency vehicles.
The morning was routinely pierced by the sound of sirens, but one in particular caught my attention.

The hospital sits on the side of a steep hill, with a busy road on a relatively steep hill to the front, and the ambo entrance to the rear via a series of sharp turns and a very steep hill.

The main road is bounded on both sides by a series of tall buildings, and it is very busy with both wheeled devices of all sizes and people on foot.

I had just looked up from my book when I heard the distinctive sound of a nee-naw approaching from my left, travelling uphill at speed. The sound bounced and rebounded and was amplified all around to the point where a young girl standing to my right grimaced and stuck her fingers in her ears.

A few moments later the ambo came into view, driven by a young woman whose whole focus was on the road in front, with obstacles and hazards all around.

As she approached a pelican crossing I saw her lean forward and the siren changed to a loud rapid warble as she scanned both sides of the road for pedestrians, simultaneously passing a line of parked vehicles then deftly overtaking a car in the left lane as more heavy traffic approached from the opposite direction close to her offside.

On through the crossing and then past the joint general and children's hospital junction to her right, the siren changed to a wailer as she continued up the hill passing a junction on her left, deftly steering around other cars and sweeping into the right lane ready for the sharp right turn at the next set of lights.

The rapid warble burst forth again as she approached the junction, changing down and giving it welly through the turn and up the hill out of sight, with the nee-naw back on and slowly fading.

We rely on the medical skills of our ambulance crews when our need is at it's greatest, but perhaps we sometimes forget is that they also need to be professional drivers.
The whole incident only took about ten seconds from first sound to last sight, but ten seconds could be the difference between life and death during the "golden hour."

What I saw today was not Formula 1, but it was still a very slick demonstration of driving skill and dedication to the profession.

I do not know your name, lady driver, but I thank you for your service.

Re: The Ambulance Driver.

What a lovely, well observed post, Fruitcake, and also very true!

Re: The Ambulance Driver.

Good post, Mr Fruit.
And I agree with you.

Re: The Ambulance Driver.

three cheers that driver.

Re: The Ambulance Driver.

Yep. To be sure Ambos AND the drivers are totally awesome.

Re: The Ambulance Driver.

I was thinking the same thing last week when I watched in admiration as an Ambulance skilfully manoeuvre its way through heavy holiday traffic.