Starting Dec 1, motorists will have to pay extra caution around ambulances on the road, as their drivers will soon have the legal right to run red lights and make U-turns where it’s not allowed.
All for the greater good — the rules are being bent for life-threatening emergency cases when every single second counts. In a press release published today, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) noted that its ambulance drivers will be exempted from Section 120(3) of the Road Traffic Act from Dec 1 onwards, providing “legislative clarity” that they can proceed past red traffic lights and make U-turns at non-designated junctions when responding to life-threatening emergencies.
Currently, the law does not explicitly state that it’s alright for ambulance drivers to do so. Even when SCDF drivers are given traffic offense notices, the typical response would be lodging an appeal, and Traffic Police will waive the offense if the drivers were indeed responding to emergencies.
“In a life-threatening medical emergency, this will help us get to the patient and to the hospital sooner, thereby increasing the patient’s chances of survival,” stated Colonel (Dr) Yih Yng Ng, Chief Medical officer of the SCDF.
The discretion to run red lights and make unauthorized U-turns come with strict caveats for road safety purposes. Ambulance drivers intending to do as such are required to sound their sirens and activate blinker lights to alert others. Drivers will still have to slow down and completely halt when approaching traffic junctions to first make a situational assessment of traffic conditions before proceeding.
Of course, other motorists will also have to play their part by “exercising civic responsibility” and give way to SCDF ambulances.
An ongoing review will seek out a similar exemption for police vehicles and fire engines attending to emergencies.
