The city traffic police will henceforth ensure right of way for ambulances on city roads. Every day, several ambulances get stuck in traffic as commuters and traffic police watch helplessly, unable to do anything but pray. To ensure that no person in emergency loses the crucial golden hour on the way to hospital, ambulances in the city will soon have right of way over other vehicles.
“We had initiated a pilot project a few months ago on Old Airport Road in participation with Manipal Hospital. The 7-km stretch bypassing Kundanahalli Junction, Wind Tunnel Road Junction and Suranjandas Junction were considered as ‘Right of Way’ for ambulances. Now, the same project will be implemented in all areas of city”, said Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M.A. Saleem. Usually, to allow free movement of ambulances, traffic signals are set to sense the movement of an emergency vehicle and switch to green. In the absence of such a system in Bengaluru, traffic police will be trained to handle these signals manually in case of movement of emergency service vehicles.
Mr Saleem said the project will be implemented on the roads leading out of city. “Recently, a woman who was being brought for a delivery to Bengaluru from Kanakapura, had a horrifying time after the vehicle she was travelling in was stuck in the jam. Similarly, many accident victims who are brought to city from Old Madras Road and Tumkur Road do not reach in time due to traffic and lack of awareness among fellow commuters. Hence, we will start the campaign from major roads joining the city from outside and then cover the city roads,” Mr Saleem said.
The traffic police plan to train their personnel with the involvement of various hospitals so that police are aware about do’s and don’ts during emergency situations. “The commuters must move to their left side of the road when they see any emergency vehicles approaching. We will print the instructions and create awareness through billboards and involving VIPs, as we did in the case of lane discipline campaign involving cricketer Rahul Dravid,” Mr Saleem said.