Two minors, a girl and a boy, were killed in a scooter accident in Lyon on Monday August 22. Update on the traffic rules governing ambulances and the way in which paramedics are recruited.
A tragic accident took place on Monday evening. Two minors, a boy and a girl, died in a scooter accident In Lyonaccording to information from Progressfollowing being hit by an ambulance, which was traveling on a bus lane.
Is an ambulance allowed to drive in a bus lane?
According to Daniel Lehmany, Director of Transports Sanitaires d’Occitanie , ambulances are not allowed to travel on bus lanes.
In Montpellier for example, a tolerance had been granted, before being called into question because it was indeed too complicated to frame it.
This ban is in any case deplored by some paramedics, as Daniel Lehmany points out. According to him, the latter considerably increases the duration of patient care: “With an hour’s journey, we can take care of one patient, while in 30 minutes’ journey, we can take care of two.” However, it is possible to derogate from the rule by issuing prefectural or municipal decrees, as Daniel Lehmany reminds us. Information confirmed by Christophe Boujie, vice-president of the national federation of ambulance craftsmen, questioned byRTL
.
Is the speed limited?
Mobile Hospital Unit vehicles, ambulances, are subject to the rules of the Highway Code, like any other motorist, when they are part of a non-priority transport mission, when they transport a patient for an appointment. you medical, for example. As soon as the paramedics are commissioned by the Samu, they can break the rules of the Highway Code, with the possibility of exceeding speed limits or passing red lights, recallsBFM TV
.
How is the profile of paramedics checked when hiring? According to information from our colleagues atProgress In Lyon,the paramedic had already committed 28 traffic offenses
including acts of crossing the white line or driving at excessive speed. This 36-year-old man had been withdraw his first driving license in 2019 following losing all his points, specifiesRTL
. In the fatal accident, he only had 2 points left out of 8. However, in theregulationsit is stated that ‘you don’t have to have temporary licenseto drive an ambulance . Daniel Lehamny, from Transports Sanitaires d’Occitanie, tells us that
a minimum of three years license is required. When hiring an ambulance driver, the private company, subject to prefectural approval, has the obligation to check that the candidate is in possession of a valid driving licence, recallsBFM TV
.
M.Lehmany specifies that in the end, it is the Regional Health Agency that validates the hiring. As for scooters, they can ride on bus lanes,only if there is no cycle path
* The Transports Sanitaires d’Occitanie are the leading private players in health transport in the Occitanie region, the TSO group was created by the Clinipole and Oc Santé health groups.
