JEDDAH, 21 December 2004 — People who crowd scenes of accidents often come in the way of rescue workers carrying out their duties. Ignorance, carelessness and lack of cooperation on the part of the public prevent ambulances from removing accident victims to hospitals.

The field supervisor responsible for one of the emergency centers in Jeddah, Mansour Munshi, told Arab News that ambulances arrive late to pick emergency cases and are delayed in reaching hospitals because other drivers do not cooperate. He said, “Cars in front of the ambulance stay in their places although they hear the sirens that mean a patient is inside is in need of immediate medical attention”.

Ambulance drivers brought this problem out in the open. “Most of the citizens do not make way when they hear the sirens. A patient might die because of the delay and yet they are not willing to help or make way to let us help. Every second is crucial when we are transporting a patient to hospital,” an ambulance driver said.

Another ambulance driver who preferred to remain anonymous said, “We were once heading to pick a person injured in a car accident on Madinah Road but were caught in the traffic jam for 20 minutes. Although the sirens were blaring the cars around us would not move. Even worse, there were some drivers trying to get in our path.”

Abu Ammar, a local driver, said that people here do not respect the ambulance sirens. “Their behavior is irresponsible. The first thing a driver should do when he hears a siren is that he move to make way for the ambulance to pass”.

“I lived in the United States for six years,” said Murad Ahmad, a Saudi. “Drivers there swerve to the right lane giving priority for the ambulance to pass.”

He added: “Media awareness campaigns are useless unless a punishment is meted out for those who don’t follow the rules.”

Abu Ahmad, another local driver, said, “Some drivers get angry when I free a path for the ambulance and they start honking. There are others who abuse the situation and run red lights by driving behind the ambulances. This all happens because no serious punishment results for being an obstacle in the way of the ambulances in emergency modes.”

Omar Abdullah, a police officer, said the traffic police help ambulances get through the crowds and traffic jams near accident sites or other emergencies. “At traffic lights, we give green signals for ambulances with sirens on to pass,” he said.

“We cannot arrest or punish drivers who don’t cooperate because it is not part of traffic regulations and it is not taught to driving license applicants. All we can do is arrange awareness campaigns in coordination with the media and hope that this serious problem can be solved with better awareness.”