A Loved One’s Life Could Depend On It

Martin Muoz sits high above traffic as he swings a 20-ton, 28-1/2-foot-long fire engine out onto the boulevard.

A 23-year veteran of the Sacramento City Fire Department, Muoz’s eyes watch intently as a gold Cadillac - faded, chipped and dented - scoots past Fire Station No. 6 before the engine can make it out the driveway.

A flip of a switch sets emergency lights turning.

The air horn bellows. The Cadillac’s owner puts the pedal to the metal and zips on ahead.

It’s all in a day’s work for Muoz, who has seen motorists become increasingly lax about yielding the right-of-way to emergency vehicles responding to calls for help.

“I don’t know if it’s those boom boxes or what,” Muoz said. “We can be right behind someone - lights flashing - and they just keep on going like we’re not even there.”

Police, firefighters and medics say motorists have become more indifferent and less predictable in yielding to emergency vehicles. Some blame a general lack of attention to the road; others attribute the trend to a hurried, “me-first” society.

Spinning lights and squealing sirens mean pull over to your right and get out of the way, even if the emergency vehicle is on the other side of the street. (And stop trying to beat everyone back out into traffic once the vehicles have passed.)

Two recent traffic fatalities underscore why such laws are necessary. An investigation is pending, but preliminary evidence shows the Carmichael man who died this weekend following an officer-involved crash turned left in front of the Sacramento police car. The motorist involved in the collision that killed Sacramento Police Officer Emily Morgenroth on Oct. 17 also turned left in front of her.

“I think you have to look at the whole driving picture,” said California Highway Patrol spokeswoman Kelly Baraga. “There’s a lot more aggressive driving going on out there than there used to be. More people are going through red lights. More people are speeding.

“It doesn’t seem like they’re focused on driving. More people die in traffic fatalities than die in wars. People aren’t taking driving as seriously as they should.”

These are not isolated incidents. Anyone who drives daily witnesses bizarre driving habits regularly.

On the Capital City Freeway Monday morning, for instance, a few angry motorists sped into the flare-strewn fast lane when traffic slowed, driving right over the flares until they saw a CHP cruiser up ahead.

Gained: a five- to six-car lead over their previous position. Time saved: 10 seconds. Years lost in stress: two.

Sacramento Police Lt. Tom Sweeney believes drivers have long been this way. It’s bad now; it was bad 15 years ago, he said.

“I can remember driving with my sister and she had to practically pull into a parking lot because no one else would get over,” Sweeney said. “We said, ‘They wouldn’t act like that if it were their grandmother needing that ambulance.”’ That was in 1976 or so.

Improved technology is also to blame, if fire Capt. Marc Bentovoja and others are correct.

Cars are so airtight, motorists often don’t hear emergency sirens until the vehicles are right on top of them, Bentovoja said.

“The windows are up, the radio’s blaring and cars are made to be practically soundproof,” he said. “I don’t think they hear us.”

There’s also something to the theory that many motorists are in some other world while driving.

“On traffic stops, you might follow someone for five blocks with your lights on and they have no clue that you’re behind them,” Sweeney said.

“People definitely don’t hear us and then they panic,” said firefighter-paramedic Rick Hudson, who’s seen motorists freak, swing violently to the right - only to run directly into a parked car.

Others don’t know what to do when emergency vehicles approach from behind and everyone’s stopped at a red light.

“If you can’t get over safely, just stay put,” Hudson said. “We’ll find a way around you.”

The fire engine Muoz drives will make about 5,000 runs next year. Police and sheriff’s deputies will rush to many, many more calls for service. Get out of their way when they do.

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The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Diana Griego Erwin McClatchy News Service