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Ever clip a sign?


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I can honestly say that I've never hit a sign. On the other hand, when I first started driving I turned a mod a little too hard in the bay and ended up high siding the unit when the right flood light wedged against a pole. >.< Luckily only a little cosmetic damage to the unit (which was old anyways and replaced soon after). Yea, there was some ribbing over it. It didn't help that during the weaving part (10 cones in a line and weave around them going forward and repeat going backwards) of the EVO day a few months later I nailed a cone going forward. Apparently I'm a safe driver as long as the unit is in reverse (no other accidents or incidents to speak of).

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Bet you'll be more aware of your edges now, won'tcha?

I have backed into a fence in an Aerostar... and I put my camp medical vehicle, a big ass white Suburban, into a ditch. In front of the ranger. I'm surprised I'm still alive after that one... (meaning I'm surprised the ranger didn't hide my body somewhere!)

Do vehicle incidents result from carelessness? Usually... that or a misunderstanding of your vehicle line, which has to come with experience. So what do you do? You be uber careful and assume that your vehicle is about 7 inches bigger in all dimensions than it really is....

What did your employer do?

Anthony, even Rural Metro out here just makes you take a drug test and take photos of any damage... they don't terminate you unless you were altered and it was a serious incident requiring expensive repair, or God forbid, an injury accident that was at-fault... why are they so strict there? Seems like it'd be a shame to fire a good EMT or Medic for clipping a side mirror or something.

Wendy

CO EMT-B

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What did your employer do?

I got off light with a warning. Technically I should have been drug tested and suspended, but they seriously needed the people anyways. If the light broke (thank God it didn't), I was offering to pay for it.

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I've hopped my share of curbs, but so far the only thing that I have "hit" was one of the big cement columns that hold up the roof for the unloading area at the ED. My partner was in the back with the patient and I didn't see it in either of my mirrors when backing up, nor was it right behind me where I could see it out the back window. Just tapped it really, no damage to the column, the ambulance, or the patient. AND it didn't set off the DriveCam that we have :D

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I have taken EVOC ... pretty much its just going over rules and regs then you take a test and then you do an obstacle course. I passed both with 100% ... but after that it is up to you employer to do the rest of driver training.

I wouldn't say my company is "strict" about clipping signs and the what not, for the most part they are pretty understanding. I think the issue really comes down to the fact that I clipped the sign and then later that night had a really really really really REALLY bad call and forgot to tell one of my bosses that I did indeed clip a sign. No biggie in the spectrum of things.

And as far as the whole "dumpster thing" goes, I was backing up in a parking lot where the dumpster had been off loaded while we were in the hospital tx'ing the pt. I "hit" it with the back step and all three of us in the truck were like "what the *choose a word here* was that?" It's still there and called the "magically appearing dumpster" ... which just illuminates another flaw .. no one told us said ER was having MASSIVE renovations done to it

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Hey everyone,

So the question I pose: Have you ever hit a sign?

I'll be honest I have. I'm a new driver, I'm a "baby EMT" by my own admittance ... yeah I'm learning! So I clipped a sign and now I'm catching a whole bunch of sh*t ... you know ... normal EMS manner ... so I did what every smart @$$ does .... I asked my fellow crew members if THEY'VE ever hit a sign. Of course they all said that they've never hit a sign ... :roll: .. so ... clip any curbs and get a sign to boot?

I did. And to be honest, I backed into a huge roll-off dumpster; I didn't hurt anyone and they were minimal scratches ... if any ... on the truck ... so if people want to get all uppidy about stupid bs like that .. I should just take the new truck instead of the oldest truck next week :P ...

Am I alone in the world of EMS driving? I don't really think I am but I figured I'd ask ... ever hit a sign?

*edited for vague terminology* In terms of "hitting" a sign, I mean clipping it with the end of the truck. I was backing down a road and hit a sign that was on a telephone pole. Well, I backed down the road without hitting the sign, when I left I didn't take the turn wide enough and scraped the back end of the truck on the sign; I forgot it was there but I was mos definitely not the first person to hit it ... but that doesn't really matter. So ... have you ever clipped a sign?

I can respect that. Although I have never hit any signs or anything of the like, I have been riding shotgun half asleep when a very large owl flew into the box of my ambulance just above the cab on my side. A good 3-4 ft wing span. Scared the living sh*t out of me.

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With all these "No signs but......" stories, I guess it needs saying:

If you don't like the way I drive, keep your ass off the sidewalks!

I can't take credit for clipping signs, backing into immovable objects, dumpsters or anything like that, but I will take credit for shearing an antenna off the roof of a truck. I was backing into a 'sally port' type entrance (large carport maybe?) and my partner assured me that he had put a truck under it before. Well, as I started under, I heard this loud 'CRUNCH', and noticed the antenna was now hanging off the side of the truck. That was the LAST time I listened to a partner say 'Yeah, I've done that before'!

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