Ambulances crash during quarantine

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Created: Thursday, 23 April 2020 12:18

     An ambulance from the Emergency Medical Attention System (SAME), in Buenos Aires City, collided in the early hours of last Sunday, April 19, in the neighborhood of La Boca. The vehicle suffered significant breakages and both the driver and the doctor had to be assisted due to several contusions, but they are out of danger. Believing yourself alone on the street or road induces many to step on the gas pedal.

     There are already four ambulances involved in crashes during the quarantine, official sources reported.

     Two days earlier, the holder of the SAME himself, Alberto Crescenti, suffered minor injuries after the SAME van in which he was moving, collided with a car in the Recoleta neighborhood. Dr. Crescenti asked "to respect maximum speeds and traffic signals."

     Not only in Buenos Aires people take risks, trusting in the little prevailing traffic.

     In Córdoba Province, three people died, in the last days, in different traffic accidents. A man lost his life after skidding and knocking down the vehicle he was driving in Vicuña Mackenna. Meanwhile, two men died in a motorcycle crash in Las Higueras, near Río Cuarto.

     In La Plata City, a man died this morning after losing control of his car and colliding with a bus stop at 639 Street and Route 11, and a 25-year-old man died this Tuesday from serious injuries suffered last Saturday, when his motorcycle was struck by a driver.

     Violating speed limits during quarantine also happens in other countries.

     In Britain, the number of drivers exceeding speed limits has doubled in some locations and the metropolitan police reported thatthe average speed on some roads has nearly doubled from 20 mph to 37 mph since the coronavirus restrictions began, with the consequent risk to drivers and pedestrians.

     The erroneous belief that with very little traffic it is possible to drive faster without risk is not something new, and is the cause of large amount of traffic deaths throughout the year.

                                            At higher speed:

  • You have less time to react to an eventuality
  • It takes more time and distance to brake
  • It becomes more difficult to control the vehicle and maneuver in the unexpected
  • The destructive force deployed in the event of a crash is greater and its consequences worse
  • The risk of death doubles every 15 km/h that speed increases (driving at more than 80 km/h)

 

Slowing down also saves lives in times of Coronavirus.