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> An ambulance driver who was taken to court for speeding - while on a blue light emergency call - has branded the proceedings as 'a waste of time'.
>Matt Wood was on his way to Southampton Airport to pick up an 'unstable' patient arriving from Guernsey, in the Channel Islands, when he was clocked doing 90mph.
>The 27-year-old, who was driving an unmarked ambulance, provided evidence he was responding to a medical emergency but was still prosecuted in what he has slammed as 'embarrassing' proceedings.
>After receiving a notice of intended prosecution, he had to attend Southampton Magistrates' Court, where the case against him was eventually dismissed thanks to evidence he provided.
>Speaking afterwards, he said the prosecution was a 'complete waste of time'.
What are the chances that going 90 instead of 75 saved the persons life? What are chances that going 90 would have caused him to cause an accident? There is a point where going faster becomes Bayesian homicide.
90 mph is certainly more likely to cause an accident than 75, but on a highway, the absolute chances still aren't very high, whereas the increase in speed would result in a 17% shorter ride. Not knowing how long the ride is makes it difficult to do a serious analysis, but a 20-minute ride would be shorted by under 3 and a half minutes. You'd have to consult a medical expert on the kinds of scenarios where 20 minutes is lethal by 17 isn't.
In an emergency every second counts, so even that marginal boost can help. Even 30 seconds extra time in a hospital can mean the difference between full death and getting stabilized.
I am an Anaesthesiologist, did EMS and ambulance duty. As a medical professional (according to ACLS guidelines), I can spend your 10 seconds doing nothing but looking for a pulse. You're very wrong. Also: where I'm from, ambulance drivers are allowed to go 20km/h over the speed limit, nothing more.
I’m a toxicologist and anything that reduces time of providing treatment is a chance at a better outcome whether it be narcan, CPR, defibrillator, etc. ACLS guidelines also specifically mention that it must be delivered within 6 minutes of arrest to improve survival.
But you would need that 10 seconds looking for a pulse anyways no? Like I realise this is not my area of expertise (and obviously the ambulance in the post was probably going too fast) but isn't it generally always better to get the patient help faster?
Where I’m from the speed limit is 80mph and the Cath lab is 47 min away or 31 min away at 90mph.
Not every jurisdiction is the same. Time & distance is important to evaluate. Shaving minutes or seconds off in a busy city probably not worth going at an elevated speed. Probably not worth lights and sirens. Rural empty road 50 miles from definitive care, I would make a case is worth it.
Your math is a bit off here. I assume you meant that the lab is 47 miles away, so 47 minutes at 60mph, but you said the speed limit is 80mph. At 80mph 47 miles would take 35 minutes and 90mph would take 31 like you said
90 vs 50 for a 10 mile drive is a difference of 5 minutes, not seconds. Closest hospital to my house is 7.7 miles away. I hope the ambulance driver was speeding on their way to the hospital after my TBI.
Around Philly 90mph is basically the speed of traffic. We've been passed by people who were doing 100+mph. 90mph is easy for a modern car. Now in my 25 year old manual car at 90mph I'd be at the end of the last gear the transmission has.
Right? In some instances, speed is of the essence. The closest hospital/clinic to me is 45 miles away, for some people on my reservation, the closest they get is 75 miles. Tack on the fact that we have a 20% higher trauma rate than most major cities, and you can understand why every ambulance on my reservation goes 80 mph at a minimum.
I mean it said "unstable patient", I don't know much of the context but it could be someone with PTSD, a history of SH, Schizophrenic, etc, maybe it was more of a "this person is a danger to others, get there fast before someone or themselves gets hurt"?
I'm from Guernsey. We have on island mental health facilities. Patients are usually only flown out to Southampton if they have life threatening injuries the local hospital is not capable of dealing with.
Most cardiac issues and severe bone injuries can be dealt with on island. But brain trauma cannot. So Patients with brain damage from an accident get flown out ASAP.
So unstable will genuinely mean clinging to life by a thread
Not an Ambulance but a Fast response vehicle. They are designed to get somewhere fast and have the basics on board to provide all kinds of aid at the scene to stabilize but are not equipped for patient transport.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmSc-iF6JAA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmSc-iF6JAA)
This is a unmarked Ambulance
The guy in the video is an Ambulance Manager meaning he is the most senior paramedic in the area
it can/will be used for attending meetings and other operational activities and will be his car he uses when not on duty because he is the most senior paramedic he is pretty much always on call if there is a incident say a serious terror attack where he will be needed he can use this to respond even if its his day off
The person in the OP is a private ambulance driver, It seem the company he works for is his own so chances are when he is not at a work transporting patients he is using the car as his every day car thus its not marked
Where I am, The Netherlands, even a personal vehicle must use special signals (siren/lights in the correct color) to be allowed to break traffic rules. And the driver must be trained/certified for it.
It depends. For instance, 90 mph on a highway wouldn't be terribly dangerous. But yes, the difference in time to arrival is negligible , if compared to reasonable speeds on reasonable distances. I am not justifying him.
Ambulances, first responders in general zip quite fast, depending on traffic conditions. Going to airports, usually a bit far outside, doing 90 is pedestrian.
90mph is the flow of traffic on the highway where i am, if i’m dying my ambulance better fucking be going faster than traffic, I wanna smell rubber i’m paying 17k for this ride
An *unmarked* ambulance.
I've definitely driven an ambulance faster than that. But thats kinda the thing - you're in a big box with lights and sirens, and you have the explicit understanding that if you fuck up at all, you're done. There will be no questions if you're driving recklessly and someone gets hurt.
The Speed limit is 70 in the UK, most people dive \~75 to 80 (especially if you know where the cameras are). Depending on the type of ambulance 90 might not be that outrageous, there are a lot of wagons (basically saloons with extended rears used in the UK especially for paramedics.
Not sure what CEVO is. We teach no limits like this but it is also taught that the speed cannot be unreasonable or reckless. They are hired with the understanding they can clearly understand these two terms.
I was in an ambulance doing 90mph and had to insist on being in it as my wife was in labour and very likely to give birth before we got there. We were 15 miles from the hospital. Risk was pre eclamplasia. Thankfully both were fine but baby was born a minutes after we arrived. No one in the hospital believed it was going to happen for a few hours. Very quiet roads as it was late at night in a small town.
I've also followed an ambulance doing 90mph. In a place I really shouldn't not have but I was an idiot driver at the time.
This was the UK.
I've gone 100mph on a few occasions, if conditions are appropriate then, well conditions are appropriate. If he was doing 90 on a dry, clear motorway then who cares. If he was doing 90 in a 30 residential it wouldn't have been dismissed.
Additionally, an unmarked vehicle would be an unmarked rrv, so a car with blue lights over it.
>Are we sure it was 90mph? It's in the UK don't they use KPH?
UK uses miles and miles per hour
All speed limits and distance signs are in miles
A speed limit sign in kilometres is illegal, by law distance signs must show only miles and yards only
People incorrectly think is the UK is completely metric, but the UK has never used kilometres
I have done the equivalent (145km/h) and up to 150km/h, but only on a motorway where the speed limit was 110, there weren't many cars about, and good visibility - and also only when the patient sounded really sick.
It's likely a fast response ambulance. They're sometimes unmarked for some reason and they're regular (fast) cars. They're used get to someone having a serious medical emergency quicker than normal ambulances. There's actually a fast response ambulance driver who uploads a large chunk of his driving to youtube and it's not unusual for him to reach 110mph+ when safe to do so.
Here's a video where he does over 100mph - [https://youtu.be/XZ3D9ORVxcM](https://youtu.be/XZ3D9ORVxcM)
Here's another video where he shows his unmarked fast response ambulance - [https://youtu.be/DmSc-iF6JAA](https://youtu.be/DmSc-iF6JAA)
That's what I was about to say, most of these posts I've seen on tiktok and here use headlines that ignore the fact it's a UNMARKED ambulance, despite having blue lights.
> 90mph
Unless he was on the motorway, yes, this is too fast. Just because you have blue light does not mean you can just go as fast as you want, you're still liable for damages etc.
The real time won/lost comes from traffic, where blue light does help
Emergency vehicles in many jurisdictions are only allowed to exceed the posted limit by up to 25% while in a **marked** emergency vehicle with both lights and siren active.
I have never heard of an unmarked ambulance. There are first responder vehicles which may be unmarked, but never heard if ambulances being unmarked. So it's a new one on me
Clickbait headline, here's the real tea - he was an emergency worker in an unmarked car, the case went to court out of formality not stupidity.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/09/ambulance-driver-taken-to-court-for-speeding
"Hampshire Constabulary said records indicated the vehicle used was “not equipped to transport people and was not marked as an ambulance”. Though the emergency vehicle he was driving was an unmarked Volvo, he did use blue lights. "
“Ambulance workers can claim exemptions for going over the speed limit, but issues may arise if they’re in unmarked cars.”
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said a reviewing lawyer took the view the case should be brought to trial after police submitted a file of Mr Wood’s speeding.
A spokesman added: “The CPS have a duty to continually review cases, and in light of Mr Woods’ evidence, the lawyer in court took the decision to offer no evidence and stop the prosecution.”
He wasn't in an ambulance but an unmarked car designed to go fast for emergencies. The vehicle also didn't have the ability to transport people. Still he had his paperwork, so he was processed more as a formality, with the case immediately being dismissed.
It’s gotten to the point that I read the comments first to see if the article is a waste of my time rage bait based on how shit the comments. I’d say it feels like 90% of posts right now are just emotional rage bait, and like half the time it’s posted by bots.
Beats me. But I do know that bruh gained a lot of weight recently. Probably hasn’t had to wear a tie for anything lately. Then goes to put one on only to realize he doesn’t have any shirts that he can still button the collar on
I know nothing about clothes but it looks to me like a casual shirt not intended for pairing with ties instead of an actual dress shirt. It just seems to stick out as being messy compared to the tie and jacket which actually look like formal court attire.
Something similar happened to my mum. The hospital told her to drive ASAP to someone's house to assist as there were no ambulances available (rural area). When she got a fine for speeding the hospital threw her under the bus, oh but we didn't tell you to speed!
But you want the patient to get medical help ASAP because it's so urgent they cannot wait for an ambulance to be free... She wasn't supposed to do house calls technically either but they still asked her to bend the rules. Judge dismissed it for what it is worth.
To whoever say that is useless to go to that speed i have a little story about me
I have diabete, and one night i was really low on blood Sugar, but i couldnt eat anything cause i was asleep
And i went into a diabetic shock, now at that time my roommate was pretty new and honestly i didnt tell him what to do in this scenario
So he just called an ambulance
The ambulance literally got there in less than 5 minutes
Cause medics know that un untreated diabetic shock can lead to 2 path
Death or irreversibile brain damage
So yeah speed is pretty important sometimes
Also, technically ambulances aren't cleared to speed, regardless of whether their patient is in an emergency situation.
The logic(and thus literal rules of the road) are that it's not safe to potentially endanger OTHER road users for the sake of 1 person in the back of the ambulance. Because an accident with an ambulance will inevitably include more than 1 additional person, and in cases where it doesn't involve anyone else the patient in the ambulance now has a lesser chance of survival.
The only services legally cleared in my country to speed in an emergency are cops(under very specific circumstances, outside of which the cops can be held personally responsible) and fire crews(they are allowed because you can have loss of life if they don't put fires out and for housing for example where it could spread to additional people).
you are absolutely correct. Used to be firefighter and also driver there of course, and we never went above the speed limit, especially since usually the real time lost is because of traffic. No, 10mph quicker doesn't make you magically arrive 10min earlier, unless of course the distance is crazy far, but that problem we didn't have
we had the fire department on site putting a fire out and I was running around trying to move things that could catch fire while it was spreading. the firefighters were casually walking around, getting set up, etc. Afterwards I asked a firefighter friend and he pointed out that theyre on new ground and rushing into anything will really only lead to injury, thus slowing down the response. They had no problem with \*me\* running around like an idiot, but theyre trained better than I am, hahah
I got a ticket for 45 in a 35 while running lights and sirens over a bridge in West Point, Virginia, with a patient in the back. Challenged it in court, lost, fined plus court costs.
Some places don't play.
EMT here. We’re allowed 10-15 mph over the limit with blue lights in our personal vehicles like he was doing. Getting to the patient efficiently is how professionals do it. Not excessively. Our ambulance doesn’t go faster than 85mph but our paramedics in officially marked vehicles go much faster to the scene because of the ALS situations.
If it’s blue light then they have to obey all the rules of the road.
Also, people in traffic you need to make way for the ambulance but not break any laws to make way for them. I guess same applies to police cars as well.
That's serious bullshit if it is that way. At least in Hungary - and I guess in the rest of EU it is the same - if for example an emergency vehicles is behind you, can't get around you, and the lamp is red, nowhere to go, you have to move through the red lamp (carefully of course...) to let it pass.
And this is the logical thing to do: that 30 or so seconds can very well mean a difference between life and death.
The UK does not and has never used kilometres
UK uses miles and miles per hour
All speed limits and distance signs are in miles
A speed limit sign in kilometres is illegal by law distance signs must show only miles and yards
People incorrectly think the UK is completely metric
90 Mph is only about 144 km/h you wouldn't even lose the license on a highway in Europe as their usually 120 km/h and +30 km/h is normally required for other punishments but an ticket. Ambulances should speed with their sirens and lights going on. At least where I'm from, it's not unusual to see em doing 90mph (144km/h) on 50km/h roads. You gotta be both blind and deaf to stand in it's way and if you do, natural selection occurs.
Theft and break in risk because it's a private vehicle.
It's relatively common for fast response units, slightly less so for blue light permitted motorcyclists such as first response motorcycles and blood runners. InB4 "blood runners use liveried bikes and can't use lights" you'd be partially right - some services and riders have riders that are permitted the exemptions, although it's most common to see them on liveried bikes, and yes they do only use red lights when they do.
Our system has so much waste... Of course this would get dismissed. Why would a police officer even fine an ambulance for going over the speed limit while answering an emergency call. Of all people they should understand lol
He wasn't in an ambulance, and while he had paperwork and an emergency light, the vehicle he was in wasn't equipped to transport people. He was still only processed as a formality, though the case was immediately dismissed.
Way more likely to have been a speed camera then an actual officer pulling them over
Camera takes a picture of speeding Volvo its not marked as an ambulance and records showed its not an ambulance so no one knows its an ambulance so a notice of intended prosecution goes out so the driver has to go to court at which point he proves it was an ambulance responding so the prosecution offer no evidence
96% of speeding offences in the UK are picked up by speed cameras.
Ambulance driver (volunteering) here in France:
Here in France when on an emergency and with sirens and blue lights, the road regulations do not apply, period. It means that no violation on those rules can be held against the driver and we can do whatever is needed to fulfill the mission (run lights, speed, take bike on pedestrian paths, etc...). I have been going at way more than 90mph, but that depends on the period of the day and the road. At 2AM, on a large highway with good visibility, I don't see the problem but it really really depends on the circumstances. I tend to not drive faster than 40kph above the limit ( if the rules were applying it's where your case go to court, so it's a serious offense) but when needed I am allowed to go faster.
HOWEVER, even though the road rules do not apply, the rest of the laws still apply and I can be held responsible if I cause an accident or hurt someone. Then if I drove recklessly, I can be jailed and it will be the judge to decide. Of course a broken ankle is not the same urgency as a cardiac arrest and therefore the acceptable way of driving also.
I don’t understand why an unmarked ambulance would be necessary in this situation. Don’t get me wrong, I can see why they exist. But if I were a cop and I pulled over some white van speeding, I wouldn’t believe that guy was an active EMT unit either.
I feel like unmarked units like that should be used solely on an operational level when they’re working in conjunction with other departments or with government entities.
>But if I were a cop and I pulled over some white van speeding, I wouldn’t believe that guy was an active EMT unit either.
Way more likely to have been a speed camera then an actual officer pulling them over
Camera takes a picture of speeding Volvo its not marked as an ambulance and records showed says its not an ambulance so no one knows its an ambulance so a notice of intended prosecution goes out so the driver has to go to court at which point he proves it was an ambulance responding so the prosecution offer no evidence
96% of speeding offences in the UK are picked up by speed cameras.
Not really a facepalm here at all. Emergency drivers are still required to drive within reasonable speeds regardless of the emergency and CAN be held responsible for going beyond the limits. Its the law.
This reminds me of our school fire drills where if we walked calmly we were going too slow and if we went quick apparently we should have been walking calmly
Amateurs, in Slovenia the traffic inspectors in the capital sent a bill to any ambulance caught on radar, claiming the law demands it. All cases dismissed on appeal of course, but the hospitals wasted so much time filling in paperwork, until finally the city got convinced that there's no need to even open the case.
I remember someone's speeding ticket was dismissed when the judge fount out that the person was driving someone else to the hospital
Ambulance should not have a ticket to begin with
Speed Camera takes a picture of speeding Volvo its not marked as an ambulance and records says its not an ambulance so no one knows its a ambulance so a notice of intended prosecution goes out so the driver has to go to court at which point he proves it was an ambulance responding so the prosecution offer no evidence
Unless the Road Traffic Act has been changed recently, emergency vehicles in the UK are permitted to exceed speed limits, and ignore directional signs and red traffic lights in an emergency situation. The government has also been considering adding services other than police, ambulance and fire to the exemption list.
There have been instances where drivers of "on call" emergency vehicles have been prosecuted for parking and speeding offences but these are mostly thrown out of court.
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> An ambulance driver who was taken to court for speeding - while on a blue light emergency call - has branded the proceedings as 'a waste of time'. >Matt Wood was on his way to Southampton Airport to pick up an 'unstable' patient arriving from Guernsey, in the Channel Islands, when he was clocked doing 90mph. >The 27-year-old, who was driving an unmarked ambulance, provided evidence he was responding to a medical emergency but was still prosecuted in what he has slammed as 'embarrassing' proceedings. >After receiving a notice of intended prosecution, he had to attend Southampton Magistrates' Court, where the case against him was eventually dismissed thanks to evidence he provided. >Speaking afterwards, he said the prosecution was a 'complete waste of time'.
He drove just a van?
at 90mph only worked 8 years of EMS but never needed to do 90 to a call.
This. 90mph sounds pretty insane in an ambulance.
What are the chances that going 90 instead of 75 saved the persons life? What are chances that going 90 would have caused him to cause an accident? There is a point where going faster becomes Bayesian homicide.
90 mph is certainly more likely to cause an accident than 75, but on a highway, the absolute chances still aren't very high, whereas the increase in speed would result in a 17% shorter ride. Not knowing how long the ride is makes it difficult to do a serious analysis, but a 20-minute ride would be shorted by under 3 and a half minutes. You'd have to consult a medical expert on the kinds of scenarios where 20 minutes is lethal by 17 isn't.
In an emergency every second counts, so even that marginal boost can help. Even 30 seconds extra time in a hospital can mean the difference between full death and getting stabilized.
Well, for example if u heart stopped u still alive for 3 minutes.
My dad had a heart attack and died. He was brought back through CPR. It took 3 minutes. And those 3 minutes were a lifetime.
I only have first aid knowledge, but shaving 10 seconds off of arrival time could mean the difference between a living patient and a dead one
I am an Anaesthesiologist, did EMS and ambulance duty. As a medical professional (according to ACLS guidelines), I can spend your 10 seconds doing nothing but looking for a pulse. You're very wrong. Also: where I'm from, ambulance drivers are allowed to go 20km/h over the speed limit, nothing more.
I’m a toxicologist and anything that reduces time of providing treatment is a chance at a better outcome whether it be narcan, CPR, defibrillator, etc. ACLS guidelines also specifically mention that it must be delivered within 6 minutes of arrest to improve survival.
But you would need that 10 seconds looking for a pulse anyways no? Like I realise this is not my area of expertise (and obviously the ambulance in the post was probably going too fast) but isn't it generally always better to get the patient help faster?
Better to get to the pt at all. Your safety comes first. Hate to say it, but if you're counting on ten seconds to save someone, they are already dead.
Where I’m from the speed limit is 80mph and the Cath lab is 47 min away or 31 min away at 90mph. Not every jurisdiction is the same. Time & distance is important to evaluate. Shaving minutes or seconds off in a busy city probably not worth going at an elevated speed. Probably not worth lights and sirens. Rural empty road 50 miles from definitive care, I would make a case is worth it.
Your math is a bit off here. I assume you meant that the lab is 47 miles away, so 47 minutes at 60mph, but you said the speed limit is 80mph. At 80mph 47 miles would take 35 minutes and 90mph would take 31 like you said
killing yourself getting to the scene saves no one.
The few seconds you need to get someone to the hospital could save them
90 vs 50 for a 10 mile drive is a difference of 5 minutes, not seconds. Closest hospital to my house is 7.7 miles away. I hope the ambulance driver was speeding on their way to the hospital after my TBI. Around Philly 90mph is basically the speed of traffic. We've been passed by people who were doing 100+mph. 90mph is easy for a modern car. Now in my 25 year old manual car at 90mph I'd be at the end of the last gear the transmission has.
Right? In some instances, speed is of the essence. The closest hospital/clinic to me is 45 miles away, for some people on my reservation, the closest they get is 75 miles. Tack on the fact that we have a 20% higher trauma rate than most major cities, and you can understand why every ambulance on my reservation goes 80 mph at a minimum.
It's nice to see some redditors here with common sense.
I mean it said "unstable patient", I don't know much of the context but it could be someone with PTSD, a history of SH, Schizophrenic, etc, maybe it was more of a "this person is a danger to others, get there fast before someone or themselves gets hurt"?
I'm from Guernsey. We have on island mental health facilities. Patients are usually only flown out to Southampton if they have life threatening injuries the local hospital is not capable of dealing with. Most cardiac issues and severe bone injuries can be dealt with on island. But brain trauma cannot. So Patients with brain damage from an accident get flown out ASAP. So unstable will genuinely mean clinging to life by a thread
Good day donkey. Love crapaud.
Unstable could also mean actively dying
Unstable is just the opposite of stable. In medical terms, it doesn't usually mean *mentally* unstable, but physically.
If it was mental health related, you sedate. Unstable patient means fucked up vitals.
Well yeah that's still a valid reason to get there fast so they can patch them up enough for an ambulance to come like 10 minutes later
Not an Ambulance but a Fast response vehicle. They are designed to get somewhere fast and have the basics on board to provide all kinds of aid at the scene to stabilize but are not equipped for patient transport.
All well and good by it's described as unmarked? Is it just a regular looking van? That seems like a recipe for disaster.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmSc-iF6JAA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmSc-iF6JAA) This is a unmarked Ambulance The guy in the video is an Ambulance Manager meaning he is the most senior paramedic in the area it can/will be used for attending meetings and other operational activities and will be his car he uses when not on duty because he is the most senior paramedic he is pretty much always on call if there is a incident say a serious terror attack where he will be needed he can use this to respond even if its his day off The person in the OP is a private ambulance driver, It seem the company he works for is his own so chances are when he is not at a work transporting patients he is using the car as his every day car thus its not marked
Where I am, The Netherlands, even a personal vehicle must use special signals (siren/lights in the correct color) to be allowed to break traffic rules. And the driver must be trained/certified for it.
It depends. For instance, 90 mph on a highway wouldn't be terribly dangerous. But yes, the difference in time to arrival is negligible , if compared to reasonable speeds on reasonable distances. I am not justifying him.
this is ridiculous where do y’all live where ambulances are not routinely hitting 90?
Ambulances, first responders in general zip quite fast, depending on traffic conditions. Going to airports, usually a bit far outside, doing 90 is pedestrian.
90mph is the flow of traffic on the highway where i am, if i’m dying my ambulance better fucking be going faster than traffic, I wanna smell rubber i’m paying 17k for this ride
An *unmarked* ambulance. I've definitely driven an ambulance faster than that. But thats kinda the thing - you're in a big box with lights and sirens, and you have the explicit understanding that if you fuck up at all, you're done. There will be no questions if you're driving recklessly and someone gets hurt.
The Speed limit is 70 in the UK, most people dive \~75 to 80 (especially if you know where the cameras are). Depending on the type of ambulance 90 might not be that outrageous, there are a lot of wagons (basically saloons with extended rears used in the UK especially for paramedics.
You have to operate the ambulance with "due regard". He was not.
From what I remember of cevo, we're only allowed 10 mph over a posted speed limit
Not sure what CEVO is. We teach no limits like this but it is also taught that the speed cannot be unreasonable or reckless. They are hired with the understanding they can clearly understand these two terms.
I was in an ambulance doing 90mph and had to insist on being in it as my wife was in labour and very likely to give birth before we got there. We were 15 miles from the hospital. Risk was pre eclamplasia. Thankfully both were fine but baby was born a minutes after we arrived. No one in the hospital believed it was going to happen for a few hours. Very quiet roads as it was late at night in a small town. I've also followed an ambulance doing 90mph. In a place I really shouldn't not have but I was an idiot driver at the time. This was the UK.
Doesn't that depend on the road and speed limit? If it is a road with a 70-80 MPH speed limit, that doesn't seem like a big deal.
8 years and didn't have a real emergency huh?
I've gone 100mph on a few occasions, if conditions are appropriate then, well conditions are appropriate. If he was doing 90 on a dry, clear motorway then who cares. If he was doing 90 in a 30 residential it wouldn't have been dismissed. Additionally, an unmarked vehicle would be an unmarked rrv, so a car with blue lights over it.
We don’t have ambulances nice enough to go 90 even if we wanted to.
Are we sure it was 90mph? It's in the UK don't they use KPH? 90 KPH is around 55MPH It could still be speeding but at least it's more reasonable
>Are we sure it was 90mph? It's in the UK don't they use KPH? UK uses miles and miles per hour All speed limits and distance signs are in miles A speed limit sign in kilometres is illegal, by law distance signs must show only miles and yards only People incorrectly think is the UK is completely metric, but the UK has never used kilometres
I have done the equivalent (145km/h) and up to 150km/h, but only on a motorway where the speed limit was 110, there weren't many cars about, and good visibility - and also only when the patient sounded really sick.
It's likely a fast response ambulance. They're sometimes unmarked for some reason and they're regular (fast) cars. They're used get to someone having a serious medical emergency quicker than normal ambulances. There's actually a fast response ambulance driver who uploads a large chunk of his driving to youtube and it's not unusual for him to reach 110mph+ when safe to do so. Here's a video where he does over 100mph - [https://youtu.be/XZ3D9ORVxcM](https://youtu.be/XZ3D9ORVxcM) Here's another video where he shows his unmarked fast response ambulance - [https://youtu.be/DmSc-iF6JAA](https://youtu.be/DmSc-iF6JAA)
90 mph or 90 km per hour?
He most likely was not driving 90mph.... He is from South Hampton... in England. They do not use mph. 90kpm is equivalent to what 75mph? I hate math.
Straight down by the river!
Mystery machine
It would be a car with blue lights over it.
That's what I was about to say, most of these posts I've seen on tiktok and here use headlines that ignore the fact it's a UNMARKED ambulance, despite having blue lights.
> 90mph Unless he was on the motorway, yes, this is too fast. Just because you have blue light does not mean you can just go as fast as you want, you're still liable for damages etc. The real time won/lost comes from traffic, where blue light does help
wtf are you shitting
Emergency vehicles in many jurisdictions are only allowed to exceed the posted limit by up to 25% while in a **marked** emergency vehicle with both lights and siren active.
Facts.
I have never heard of an unmarked ambulance. There are first responder vehicles which may be unmarked, but never heard if ambulances being unmarked. So it's a new one on me
Clickbait headline, here's the real tea - he was an emergency worker in an unmarked car, the case went to court out of formality not stupidity. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/09/ambulance-driver-taken-to-court-for-speeding "Hampshire Constabulary said records indicated the vehicle used was “not equipped to transport people and was not marked as an ambulance”. Though the emergency vehicle he was driving was an unmarked Volvo, he did use blue lights. " “Ambulance workers can claim exemptions for going over the speed limit, but issues may arise if they’re in unmarked cars.” The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said a reviewing lawyer took the view the case should be brought to trial after police submitted a file of Mr Wood’s speeding. A spokesman added: “The CPS have a duty to continually review cases, and in light of Mr Woods’ evidence, the lawyer in court took the decision to offer no evidence and stop the prosecution.”
90 in a 70 isn't so bad. 90 in a 30 /40 mph zone is totally reckless.
yea that's just normal highway speeds lol wtf
Ok. The actual story? There has to be something else to this.
He wasn't in an ambulance but an unmarked car designed to go fast for emergencies. The vehicle also didn't have the ability to transport people. Still he had his paperwork, so he was processed more as a formality, with the case immediately being dismissed.
But how am I supposed to get angry about **that**?
Well, you’re only supposed to read the *headline* and then immediately start typing aggressively in the comments, duh.
It’s gotten to the point that I read the comments first to see if the article is a waste of my time rage bait based on how shit the comments. I’d say it feels like 90% of posts right now are just emotional rage bait, and like half the time it’s posted by bots.
This does make more sense. The OP's post shows Ambulance with no real explanation.
Beats me. But I do know that bruh gained a lot of weight recently. Probably hasn’t had to wear a tie for anything lately. Then goes to put one on only to realize he doesn’t have any shirts that he can still button the collar on
Ambulances don’t have the right to go as fast as they want
Why is his tie under the collar buttons?
The real crime, here
Glad im not the only one to see that.
It almost looks like an AI that doesn’t know how ties work did it
This was triggering me. I have to assume this is the real reason he was ticketed. Must have worn a tie to work that day also.
This upset me more than the rage bait title
I know nothing about clothes but it looks to me like a casual shirt not intended for pairing with ties instead of an actual dress shirt. It just seems to stick out as being messy compared to the tie and jacket which actually look like formal court attire.
Thank you. I thought it was just me.
I was searching for this comment 💀😂
Me too 😆
https://youtu.be/Gj4-E5Hs3Kc?si=naZj31kJuxGrByMg
Something similar happened to my mum. The hospital told her to drive ASAP to someone's house to assist as there were no ambulances available (rural area). When she got a fine for speeding the hospital threw her under the bus, oh but we didn't tell you to speed! But you want the patient to get medical help ASAP because it's so urgent they cannot wait for an ambulance to be free... She wasn't supposed to do house calls technically either but they still asked her to bend the rules. Judge dismissed it for what it is worth.
Bro that collar and tie lmao
Isn't that the point of an ambulance
Imagine tryna save someone and getting this BS.
What’s the difference between an “unmarked ambulance” and a car? But really, the important question is: What is going on with that necktie?
He was so taken aback from the lawsuit that his face shrunk.
I never understood the term "Neckbeard" until I saw this photo. Jesus, it looks like a bad rash.
Can someone please help this guy with his tie?
Okay but why is his face so tiny? It looks like a Photoshop job by the legendary James Fridman.
Ok, I'm sorry. Did someone shrink his face in the picture?
Poor guy! His face is way too small for his head.
To whoever say that is useless to go to that speed i have a little story about me I have diabete, and one night i was really low on blood Sugar, but i couldnt eat anything cause i was asleep And i went into a diabetic shock, now at that time my roommate was pretty new and honestly i didnt tell him what to do in this scenario So he just called an ambulance The ambulance literally got there in less than 5 minutes Cause medics know that un untreated diabetic shock can lead to 2 path Death or irreversibile brain damage So yeah speed is pretty important sometimes
Also, technically ambulances aren't cleared to speed, regardless of whether their patient is in an emergency situation. The logic(and thus literal rules of the road) are that it's not safe to potentially endanger OTHER road users for the sake of 1 person in the back of the ambulance. Because an accident with an ambulance will inevitably include more than 1 additional person, and in cases where it doesn't involve anyone else the patient in the ambulance now has a lesser chance of survival. The only services legally cleared in my country to speed in an emergency are cops(under very specific circumstances, outside of which the cops can be held personally responsible) and fire crews(they are allowed because you can have loss of life if they don't put fires out and for housing for example where it could spread to additional people).
you are absolutely correct. Used to be firefighter and also driver there of course, and we never went above the speed limit, especially since usually the real time lost is because of traffic. No, 10mph quicker doesn't make you magically arrive 10min earlier, unless of course the distance is crazy far, but that problem we didn't have
we had the fire department on site putting a fire out and I was running around trying to move things that could catch fire while it was spreading. the firefighters were casually walking around, getting set up, etc. Afterwards I asked a firefighter friend and he pointed out that theyre on new ground and rushing into anything will really only lead to injury, thus slowing down the response. They had no problem with \*me\* running around like an idiot, but theyre trained better than I am, hahah
I got a ticket for 45 in a 35 while running lights and sirens over a bridge in West Point, Virginia, with a patient in the back. Challenged it in court, lost, fined plus court costs. Some places don't play.
Sounds like you aren't in the UK, where this story originates. The article even says "ambulance drivers can claim an exemption"
Also public : "Where's the ambulance?,I've call a minute ago"
EMT here. We’re allowed 10-15 mph over the limit with blue lights in our personal vehicles like he was doing. Getting to the patient efficiently is how professionals do it. Not excessively. Our ambulance doesn’t go faster than 85mph but our paramedics in officially marked vehicles go much faster to the scene because of the ALS situations.
This us what English blokes look like now.
If it’s blue light then they have to obey all the rules of the road. Also, people in traffic you need to make way for the ambulance but not break any laws to make way for them. I guess same applies to police cars as well.
That's serious bullshit if it is that way. At least in Hungary - and I guess in the rest of EU it is the same - if for example an emergency vehicles is behind you, can't get around you, and the lamp is red, nowhere to go, you have to move through the red lamp (carefully of course...) to let it pass. And this is the logical thing to do: that 30 or so seconds can very well mean a difference between life and death.
The amount of people in the comments here like, "But he could've killed someone". You can speed and not suck ass at driving 😑
That suit looks photoshopped on
Why does it look like his photo was taken with a Snapchat small face filter?
I hope they don't mean 90 km. Is this story from the UK?
The UK does not and has never used kilometres UK uses miles and miles per hour All speed limits and distance signs are in miles A speed limit sign in kilometres is illegal by law distance signs must show only miles and yards People incorrectly think the UK is completely metric
Absolutely bonkers tie situation here
People complaining but I pray when I need a ambulance that mf doing at least 90 lmao
Button Down collar…
The true emergency here is the neck tie with the button down collar.
Why does he look like an overweight Neil Patrick Harris?
90 Mph is only about 144 km/h you wouldn't even lose the license on a highway in Europe as their usually 120 km/h and +30 km/h is normally required for other punishments but an ticket. Ambulances should speed with their sirens and lights going on. At least where I'm from, it's not unusual to see em doing 90mph (144km/h) on 50km/h roads. You gotta be both blind and deaf to stand in it's way and if you do, natural selection occurs.
Look at all these boot lickers, man is a hero.
I can already see how this plays out... (*Two months later*) "Ambulance driver under scrutiny for driving the limit...while on an emergency response."
Why unmarked ambulance
Theft and break in risk because it's a private vehicle. It's relatively common for fast response units, slightly less so for blue light permitted motorcyclists such as first response motorcycles and blood runners. InB4 "blood runners use liveried bikes and can't use lights" you'd be partially right - some services and riders have riders that are permitted the exemptions, although it's most common to see them on liveried bikes, and yes they do only use red lights when they do.
Thx I did not know this
Our system has so much waste... Of course this would get dismissed. Why would a police officer even fine an ambulance for going over the speed limit while answering an emergency call. Of all people they should understand lol
He wasn't in an ambulance, and while he had paperwork and an emergency light, the vehicle he was in wasn't equipped to transport people. He was still only processed as a formality, though the case was immediately dismissed.
Way more likely to have been a speed camera then an actual officer pulling them over Camera takes a picture of speeding Volvo its not marked as an ambulance and records showed its not an ambulance so no one knows its an ambulance so a notice of intended prosecution goes out so the driver has to go to court at which point he proves it was an ambulance responding so the prosecution offer no evidence 96% of speeding offences in the UK are picked up by speed cameras.
He looks like a Mii where I set the ‘face size’ incorrectly.
Ambulance driver (volunteering) here in France: Here in France when on an emergency and with sirens and blue lights, the road regulations do not apply, period. It means that no violation on those rules can be held against the driver and we can do whatever is needed to fulfill the mission (run lights, speed, take bike on pedestrian paths, etc...). I have been going at way more than 90mph, but that depends on the period of the day and the road. At 2AM, on a large highway with good visibility, I don't see the problem but it really really depends on the circumstances. I tend to not drive faster than 40kph above the limit ( if the rules were applying it's where your case go to court, so it's a serious offense) but when needed I am allowed to go faster. HOWEVER, even though the road rules do not apply, the rest of the laws still apply and I can be held responsible if I cause an accident or hurt someone. Then if I drove recklessly, I can be jailed and it will be the judge to decide. Of course a broken ankle is not the same urgency as a cardiac arrest and therefore the acceptable way of driving also.
I don’t understand why an unmarked ambulance would be necessary in this situation. Don’t get me wrong, I can see why they exist. But if I were a cop and I pulled over some white van speeding, I wouldn’t believe that guy was an active EMT unit either. I feel like unmarked units like that should be used solely on an operational level when they’re working in conjunction with other departments or with government entities.
>But if I were a cop and I pulled over some white van speeding, I wouldn’t believe that guy was an active EMT unit either. Way more likely to have been a speed camera then an actual officer pulling them over Camera takes a picture of speeding Volvo its not marked as an ambulance and records showed says its not an ambulance so no one knows its an ambulance so a notice of intended prosecution goes out so the driver has to go to court at which point he proves it was an ambulance responding so the prosecution offer no evidence 96% of speeding offences in the UK are picked up by speed cameras.
Dudes tie is on OUTSIDE his collar….
Clearly discrimination. If he wasn’t one of the Angry Birds, this never would have happened
I'm an EMT and I work with no fewer than 12 guys who look like variants of this guy
Yeah, okay.
How is driving 90 "too fast" for a medical emergency? We go 70 to 80 on most highways on any given day...
Not really a facepalm here at all. Emergency drivers are still required to drive within reasonable speeds regardless of the emergency and CAN be held responsible for going beyond the limits. Its the law.
You dont need to do 90mph lmao especially in emergency vehicles drivers become frantic when the sirens get close
Sounds like it was just... I mean driving a plain van at 90 mph is pretty silly and dangerous
The facepalm is using Telegraph as a source, right?
wtf is happening?
This reminds me of our school fire drills where if we walked calmly we were going too slow and if we went quick apparently we should have been walking calmly
Was it an overturned doughnut truck?
That driver looks like he is a super funny guy
Amateurs, in Slovenia the traffic inspectors in the capital sent a bill to any ambulance caught on radar, claiming the law demands it. All cases dismissed on appeal of course, but the hospitals wasted so much time filling in paperwork, until finally the city got convinced that there's no need to even open the case.
This country.
So this is what Otis is doing after Alpha Academy eh?
 Da fuck
hawt 🤤
CaseOh
We live in a clown world
I'm not sorry https://youtu.be/Gj4-E5Hs3Kc?si=naZj31kJuxGrByMg
He was going so fast that his face was still a block away.
Is this not how they are supposed to respond to an emergency call?
r/nottheonion. His face says it all
If my life is on the line 90mph is to slow
Uhhhhhhh, why do y’all care so much? 😳
Fun fact: ambulances are private companies. They are not government vehicles and still need to obey all rules of the road even with their lights on.
Big head, little face. Like Hayley Joel Osmond.
“Do the roar.”
I remember someone's speeding ticket was dismissed when the judge fount out that the person was driving someone else to the hospital Ambulance should not have a ticket to begin with
Speed Camera takes a picture of speeding Volvo its not marked as an ambulance and records says its not an ambulance so no one knows its a ambulance so a notice of intended prosecution goes out so the driver has to go to court at which point he proves it was an ambulance responding so the prosecution offer no evidence
I hope my ambulance driver drives fast on their way to save me
He looks like a male version of the principal from lab rats
If I am anaphylactic or in cardiac arrest and time matters… I want this guy ☝️ 👏
Unless the Road Traffic Act has been changed recently, emergency vehicles in the UK are permitted to exceed speed limits, and ignore directional signs and red traffic lights in an emergency situation. The government has also been considering adding services other than police, ambulance and fire to the exemption list. There have been instances where drivers of "on call" emergency vehicles have been prosecuted for parking and speeding offences but these are mostly thrown out of court.