Despite the crackdown on illegal use of sirens and also misuse of sirens by authorised vehicles like ambulances, the menace continues. Police who have been focussing more on sensitising vehicle drivers, particularly those driving ambulances, are now gearing up to act tough on the violators and implement strict enforcement.
The decision comes especially in the wake of an ambulance driver using a siren got clearance at a traffic junction, only to stop by a roadside eatery for him and the staff to buy mirchi bajji and soft drinks on Monday night at Basheerbagh in the city.
Police have also received complaints of hospitals sending patients to diagnostic centres located far away with whom they have a tie-up, for scans and other tests. In such cases, ambulance drivers are under pressure to transport more patients and they use sirens to avoid traffic and red signals, despite the case not being an emergency.
Some ambulance drivers, police found, have got used to using sirens and the moment they start the vehicle, they start siren also, creating inconvenience to other road users. “ We will not know such cases unless we stop the vehicle, but it might again lead to inconvenience to genuine patients. As such it being a sensitive matter, we are dealing with them with caution,” traffic officials said.
Earlier in May, BK Rahul Hedge, DCP-I Hyderabad traffic police held a meeting with managements of Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Ambulance associations and sensitised them on use of sirens for purposes other than carrying patients to hospital.
