A growing number of people don’t know what to do when they hear sirens and flashing lights from behind and it’s putting lives at risk, emergency services say.
Seven Sharp sat in the passenger seat of Sergeant Andrew Meale one afternoon as he made his way down Auckland’s Southern Motorway.
It wasn’t long until he got a call-out and put his sirens on. But, he could barely make any progress as, in a short space of time, drivers failed to pull over or pulled over the wrong way repeatedly.
Meale put the trend down to a few factors: people not checking their mirrors, people using Bluetooth devices or listening to loud music.
St John paramedics encounter it every day.
Lisa Buckingham said every second counted and could be the difference between life and death.
Buckingham and Meale urged people to pull to the left, rather than to the right.
As well as putting people’s lives at risk, motorists who fail to give way risk a $150 fine.
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