Volunteer firefighters

[Ian Gills]

I've seen a lot of bad driving from the American police, firefighters and ambulances in emergency situations recently and it got me thinking.

Do these guys have advanced driver training like they do in England?

The most recent incident I saw was a police car, with sirens blaring, jumping a red light to sideswipe a van.

That wouldn't happen in England because the police drivers are properly trained.

The big issue is whether volunteer firefighters are properly trained to drive the big trucks at speed?

 

[Joe the Plumber]

Yes,
Fire fighters train all week driving big long trucks at speed all over the place.
It's way fun to do, so they drive and drive all the time chasing each other.
Police like to drive fast too. Sometimes they turn on the blue lights when they need to meet someone for a quick dinner. Move over they say, and man I do. I'm not going to be on the left when I see those flashing blue lights. I'm sure they drive better then in England, because our roads are longer then 10 miles long. In Jolly old England, they drive around in circles waving to each other. They're very friendly there. And they are careful to not spill any tea while stopping and going. Here in America, we bolt around chasing each other like scalded dogs. That's why our coffee cups have lids on them. In England, the top speed limit is 45. But since everyone is drinking tea, it's really much slower. And then you have the circles, and if you go too fast around the circle, it slops your tea out of the cup.
But here in American, you can sign up to be a fire fighter, you get to start fires to practice on. If you're a fire fighter, it's your job to always bring fire wood to any occasion. We need big fires, and not small ones. Then we stare at the fire, and poke sticks in the fire. Then when the fire rages around outside the circle, we get to put water on it and listen to the steam on the hot coals. When we're hungry, we put a slab of meat on the fire, or maybe hot dogs on sticks. Either way, when it's time, we hop in the trucks and race around looking for flames to put out. It's a good job, and the rest of the time we get to play pool.
Or maybe we read books about driving fast and keeping lids on coffee cups.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Ian Gills]

Well, that is good news.

We wouldn't want the average American who just happens to be a cop or a firefighter given the right to get behind a wheel and drive in disregard of the ordinary traffic laws without adequate training.