Hey, there! Log in / Register

Citizen complaint of the day: EMTs shouldn't have to run half a block because parked cars block their ambulance

Narrow Kilmarnock

A disgusted citizen reports on an incident on Queensbury Street in the Fenway yesterday:

Today an ambulance was stuck because a 55 bus was turned off, and the parked cars on the other side prevented the ambulance from passing. The EMTs started running the remaining half-block to their call while the bus driver pulled his bus away from the stop to give the ambulance room to maneuver. Do three measly parking spots earn #Boston so much money that these kinds of risks are necessary?

Neighborhoods: 
Topics: 
Free tagging: 


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

Really isn't the issue here the 55 bus that is in the way and not the cars? Why is the bus turned off and parked on the wrong side of the street?

up
Voting closed 0

Because that's not the "wrong side of the street," and it's a bus stop. (In fact, it appears to be the end point of that route, which would explain why the bus was turned off.)

up
Voting closed 0

How is that a bus stop? It looks like it is blocking an intersection...

up
Voting closed 0

The picture in relation to the story looks a little deceiving. It must have been taken as the bus was pulling up to make room for the ambulance, since it is neither turned off nor pulled over to the side in it's traditional stop, which is right at the corner next to the Jersey Street Laundromat.

up
Voting closed 0

About that. The same thing can happen in Southie, because some of the bus routes go down very narrow two way, and even one way streets with parking on BOTH sides.

Not sure whose bright idea it was to put a route there, rather on a throughway street. I haven't seen many other cities where the buses are routed directly through tight neighborhoods like that.

Heaven forbid the stick to the roads designed to hold them. You think people would be worried about the children and start complaining.

up
Voting closed 0

How many streets in Boston weren't designed to hold automobiles, let alone buses. I say we make all narrow streets pedestrian zones, with exceptions made for emergency vehicles and limited deliveries.. And I'm only half-sarcastic about this.

up
Voting closed 0

In the pacific northwest they do this, and it works wonders to slowing down traffic on side streets. I'm betting it would really discourage the use of side streets to "cut through".

IMAGE(http://streetswiki.wikispaces.com/file/view/chicane-richarddrdul.jpg/126846339/chicane-richarddrdul.jpg)

up
Voting closed 0

I used to bike down that road all the time, and the 55 drivers love to park there and then go into the convenience market.

In other news, a couple of days ago a Cataldo crew decided to park a running ambulance half in the street, blocking an entire crosswalk and making it impossible for people to make right turns, right in downtown JP.

When I reported it on citizens' connect, the mayor's office closed the ticket saying they were "responding to a call."

First off, Boston EMS handle all emergency calls in Boston. And when they park the ambulance, they leave the lights flashing, especially on a major street.

Second, the crew showed up a couple of minutes later with their dinner, which they'd just acquired from the Thai restaurant they walked out of. And I have video of them, with said dinner, getting into the ambulance.

So, basically, the mayor's office lied through their fucking teeth to save some face for Cataldo.

up
Voting closed 0

The city seems to think that people in official vehicles can do whatever they want even when it's not an emergency.

There's a location I used to have to go for work where EVERY DAY at the same time, an ambulance would park in the middle of the (narrow, one-way) street for 20 minutes while they went and retrieved someone who was clearly a transport to an appointment, not an emergency call. Half of the time there were parking spaces available within a few spaces of this house, but apparently this ambulance couldn't bother. There were always plenty of spots on the arterial 100 feet away. When neighbors would call the ambulance company or the city, they were told it was an ambulance doing its job.

up
Voting closed 0

But with EMS or Police that are on call I tend to look the other way. If they're needed, they should be as close to their vehicle as they can be. I don't want EMS or a on duty officer having to run a block because they ran into a convenience store to brag a quick lunch. I'm ok with that being a logical exception to the rule.

BTD, MBTA, city workers, off duty Cops and EMS, specifically ones doing details or court duty; yeah the line needs to be drawn there.

up
Voting closed 0

This was one of the contracted ambulance companies.

And yes, EMS/Police running in to get food while keeping the vehicle close by is totally appropriate, provided they aren't completely blocking a driveway or parked car or whatnot.

up
Voting closed 0

Not to make light of the situation, but, because everything that happens in life can be traced back to a Seinfeld episode, it should be noted that the ambulance-stuck-in-traffic episode aired last night on the TBS re-runs. Can't make this stuff up.

JJ
(these pretzels are making me thirsty!)

up
Voting closed 1

Which is to say....not so much.

I know, I know, everyone else in the world thought Seinfeld was the cat's ass, but I was very indifferent to it.

up
Voting closed 0

Cars park too close to intersections and on top of crosswalks on that street all the time. It's such a narrow street that sometimes the 55 bus and fire trucks can't even make turns there because some idiot decided to squeeze illegally into the corner.

up
Voting closed 0