Bengaluru: Ambulances may get free way on city roads

Bengaluru: With increasing traffic on the city’s roads making it hard for ambulances carrying patients in critical condition to reach hospitals in time, their drivers may in future be allowed to alert the traffic control room to give them a free way to get to them without hold-ups. They could also sport a different label and be fitted with a special siren and lights to help them get through traffic faster.

Says Commissioner for Traffic and Road Safety, D Roopa,  “Ambulances often get stuck in traffic snarls and it’s time that we did something about it. So we are thinking of giving special labels along with a different siren and lights to ambulances carrying emergency patients. We are also working on a plan to let the driver of an ambulance carrying a patient requiring emergency care to alert the traffic control room to give him a free way without any obstruction to the hospital.”

This facility, will however, not be provided to all ambulances  as many carry patients with simple injuries or  shift patients from one hospital to another. “We will give only ambulances  carrying emergency cases such priority," she explains.
Clarifying that the plan is still in a nascent stage, Ms Roopa says her officials will visit  Mumbai, which is following a similar method for its ambulances, to see how it works.

“We will have to adopt a standard operating procedure as it cannot be effective without the co-ordination of the health, transport and other departments,” she adds.

Welcoming the move, a senior police officer says ambulances must be given priority in any condition. “A proper system should be worked out to ensure that emergency patients are not stuck in traffic jams. But if we have to alter the sirens and lights of the ambulances the Union government will have to amend the Indian Motor Vehicle (IMV) Act. I am , however, confident a system will  soon be put into place to ease the way for ambulances on the city’s roads,” he assures.