Think - you could save a life

From the archive, first published Tuesday 21st Feb 2006.

Many of Bradford's streets, built in pre-car days, are badly suited to the number of vehicles that are parked in them nowadays. Other thoroughfares on more modern estates have also deliberately been created narrow as a traffic-calming measure to slow down the vehicles driving along them.

Yet it is these same streets and avenues that ambulances and fire engines need to pass along to attend emergencies. All the more reason, then, for drivers to think before they park and do their best not to block the way.

Too many are not doing that, it seems. According to firefighters, thoughtless motorists are putting lives at risk by parking badly, making it increasingly difficult for crews to get through in an emergency. Sometimes they have to try to find another route, wasting precious minutes.

This is another manifestation of the lack of consideration for emergency services which also sees some motorists failing to pull over when they hear the sound of a fire engine or ambulance approaching. Too many people seem oblivious to the need to ensure that these vehicles can get to their destination as swiftly as possible. Delay can be fatal.

Car ownership seems unlikely to decline, at least for the foreseeable future. So we have to learn to behave more responsibly as individual motorists, and that means giving rather more thought to how we park so as not to obstruct emergency vehicles and getting out of their way when they need to pass us in moving traffic.

After all, the person they are trying to reach could one day be us or someone dear to us.

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