The more footage I watch the more I realize Germany has a far better public response to emergency vehicles than Americans 😭😭 that’s so wild to me! At this point what does America do a lil bit better than Germany?
NASA is something Americans can or should be proud off because that’s where their health insurance money goes into wich is why they don’t have healthcare but it seriously helps the world because space exploration is also an important thing wich ESA or DLR don’t do all too well since the governmental interest is more centered towards earth like its own citizens and not space
Two things to mention: 1.: We don't know why the ambulances were going slow. Might be that they already transport a patient, and thus have to go slow, OR they see something ahead of them and KNOW they can not go fast. So, without any further information, I just assume they are going as fast as possible. 2.: Here in Germany, the WDR (West Deutscher Rundfunk, West German Broadcast) currently hosts a documentary series by the name of "Feuer & Flamme" (Fire & Flame), which documents the work of firefighters in certain citys (mostly in the Ruhr Metropolitan Area). They gave the firefighters cameras (GoPros or similar style), plus the camera team is showing up when called for additional footage. The series shows footage of the rescue work, added by woven in interviews from the firefighters. If you want to check out a particular episode showing how the Rettungs-Gasse _DIDN'T_ work to well, check this one out: Keine Rettungsgasse in der Baustelle | S02/E01 | Feuer & Flamme | WDR ruclips.net/video/Mbl7Bg8OzsQ/видео.html You can see some VERY angry fire fighters here, and rightfully so. ^^ The auto translate feature from youtube works OK on this one, although only the interview-segments are translated; in my opinion, the translation is good enough so one gets what is going on. Greetings from Germany, and keep up the good work! :D
I am a German paramedic and I drive through the city in an ambulance every day with blue lights and sirens and I can tell you there are people who make absolutely no room, although I have to say that it has gotten a lot better since there have been many reports on rescue workers on television The fire brigade bus is used to transport citizens in dangerous situations. It is a normal city bus with blue lights and a siren. It is used when, for example, a World War II bomb has been found and needs to be defused in order to evacuate people quickly Furthermore, there are various vehicles in Germany. There is an "Rettungswagen" (abbreviated RTW) that is an emergency vehicle that is usually a matter of life and death when it is dispatched and then there is an "Krankenwagen" (abbreviated KTW) that is there to transport people who need to go to the doctor or hospital where it is not urgent. We kindly call it the emergency service taxi, then there is an emergency medical vehicle, the so-called "Notarzteinsatzfahrzeug" (abbreviated NEF) in which an emergency doctor is transported
ich weiß ja nicht in welcher Stadt in NRW du fährst, aber in München haben wir kaum Probleme mitm RTW durch zu kommen Der Bus ist kein normaler Stadtbus der für Evakuierungen genutzt wird sondern ein GRTW
James, I've seen ambulances driving slow in Germany too. They usually do if the patient isn't in a life threatening condition, or if his injuries are so severe that very cautious driving is required and medical professionals are in there too to observe the state of the patient. Typically the ambulances have a lot of equipment for even complex treatments of patients today. That allows more often to avoid rushing to an A&E reception of a hospital. Of course they'll drive fast for getting to a place of a amedical incident. To be honest, I was a bit doubtful when I saw for the first time on the Internet that people in the US wouldn't make way for emergency vehicles. Thank you for sharing your experiences and views correcting those first impressions. BTW, it has become more of an issue about 30 years ago when emergency professionals more and more frequently reported having difficulties to get to places of an accident. Only then public awareness of traffic density having reached levels causing such difficulties was triggering a more significant public debate about that situation. At that time some of our neighbours had made creating emergency lanes a law already.
Speed: it's not about the vehicle not tipping iver, but the patients in the back not falling off the stretcher in each curve. Imagine the stress for the paramedics, having to lift them back up every two minutes!
I was in an ambulance once and I was tied to the stretcher with several seatbelt type „restraints“ almost (not really restrained, I could move my arms but several straps across my torso and my legs) I doubt I could have fallen off the stretcher at all
9:48 Mercedes is the standard; Literally like 95 to 98% of the ambulances are based on the Mercedes Sprinter - btw just like some of the ambulances seen in the US part of the video were Mercedes Sprinters as well 10:10 because that ambulance is transporting a patient and you just can't rush through a roundabout at full speed with a patient in the back without him having pain or throwing up; And that clip is not quite from a rural area, rather a town of 50k inhabitants which obviously is still a small place compared to NYC 11:15 it's slow because there's a red traffic light; Neither in the US nor in Germany they'd rush through a red light at full speed 11:30 yes it IS an ambulance bus, a Large Capacity Ambulance Bus, operated by the FD; And yes they have the same chassis like city busses 11:58 that's literally an entire convoy, and they're not heading to an actual emergency but just a mass casualty drill - no reason to go really fast there 12:30 someone was trolling when he made this video? No ... they never said sth about how people react towards the ambulances in the US compared to Germany, it was only about the ambulances themselves! You try to interpret way too much into it! 17:02 again a red light
@@weinhainde2550 Ein KTW ist auch eher ein Taxi für Personen die liegend transportiert werden müssen. Zudem war die Verlegung dann auch privat und für die Genesung nicht von Bedeutung, sonst hätte es die KV übernehmen müssen.
@@Naanhanyrazzu du hast glaube ich was falsch verstanden. ich hab das gepostet weil ich es nicht teuer fand. Ich habe den Eigenanteil genannt, es war eine Art Umzug von Altenheim zu Altenheim aus privaten Gründen, eine Fahrt mit Pkw war nicht möglich. Genesung war kein Thema.
The best doctor in our region died in a traffic accident, while he was driving to an emergency. He was going too fast and broke traffic rules - which would have been okay, but the truck that hit him couldn't make him out early enough. There is a reason the traffic rules are the way they are. There is a rule in Germany that says: You have to help. But you should do it in a safe way. So it is the reponsibility of the emergency drivers to get to the accidents without having an accident themselves.
10:15 ye they go just as fast but the differnece is that the german ambulance is going around a corner while the american has the same speed on a streight line
11:12 it is a bus , aka. Großraumrettungswagen it is for Mass casualty incident (MANV/Massenanfall von Verletzten) so they can transport and accommodate many people , like when u have a big explosion or smth. 12:17 when something needs to go faster we have well equipped adac rescue helicopters that can be called in for emergency all over germany
A big difference are the sirens. German sirens - and european in general - can be heard from miles away and you can distinguish if they are moving away or towards you. American sirens are this strange wall of noise that suddenly is behind you, leaving people no time to react. They sound a bit cooler though but that's about it.
11:47 It is called a disaster control unit or SEG (rapid response unit). When a disaster such as a storm or an attack etc. occurs, these units are alerted and then drive to the scene in a convoy. Therefore, they are usually not as fast as a single vehicle, because they only ever drive as fast as the slowest vehicle in the convoy. Furthermore, they drive throughout the entire federal state and/or even the entire country and are then called overland assistance.
Die Rettungswagen haben zwar Sonderrechte, aber es gibt trotzdem Regeln, an die sie sich halten müssen. Die müssen an Kreuzungen oder Ampeln entsprechend langsamer fahren, um Gefährdungen des Verkehrs zu verhindern. Deswegen sind sie zum Teil langsam unterwegs.
Das ist auch sinnvoll. Vor einigen Jahren ist bei uns ein Rettungswagen der DLRG im Einsatz mit einem Fahrzeug zusammengekracht, dessen Fahrer an dieser recht großen Kreuzung eine rote Ampel überfahren hatte. War ziemlich übel.
my 2 cents as a german paramedic: Sure we have the right of the way but we have to drive with a high level of attention and respecting the traffic so as not to endanger anyone cause the sirene is a factor of stress for every one on the street cause of the pressure to give way, we drive very carefully, especially in the city. Of course there are also faster journeys on main roads and expressways or highways, but in built-up areas you always have to expect that someone will run in front of your car or that someone will (very often) be unable to make room for us to pass, so as already mentioned, drive slowly. True to the motto: Better to arrive safely than to die safely
I‘m born and raised in Germany. Currently living in Switzerland. It’s standard to let the ambulance pass. The sirens are really loud so you can react without rushing and put yourself or others in danger.
@@JasminMernicain Germany, yes. Particularly on the Autobahn police might register such violations sometimes when first responders report difficulties with other drivers.
@@michaelburggraf2822 Weiss nicht, wie hoch das Bussgeld mittlerweile in Deutschland ist, aber in der Schweiz sind es umgerechnet 120 €. Die Bussen hier tun richtig weh. 🥲
In Germany blocking emergency vehicles is a punishable act. Depending on the severity of the act itself the fine may be in the four or five digit area. Fines like this are often calculated from your (daily) income. You may even go to jail for it. It is much more severe than just a traffic violation.
How hard do you think the rescue Vehicles in Germany should floor it? They of course have to slow down at intersections and such especially when going over Red lights, their goal is timely and SAFE arrival at wherever they got called and not to beat Speed Records XD and Ambulances are allowed to drive up to 90kph in city Limits afaik. You also have to remember our regular Streets usually have 30-50kph Speedlimit in City Limits. Not 45mph on regular Roads like in the US lol Also the Fascination of Work Vehicles in Car Size that aren't Pick Up Trucks is adorable. That Notarzt Car probably had like 120 horsepower or something which ain't bad but no Nitrous Boost, literally just a regular Car marked as emergency Vehicle for a Doctor to get to the Scene quickly separately from the Ambulance.
When you have broken bones or a metal bar stuck inside, you don't wanna wait at red lights, but you also would cry out in pain at every bump or g-force. It's not just about speed, it's also about a gentle ride!
11:35 This is a "Großraumrettungswagen" ("Large Room Medical Emergency Vehicle"), for Situations with lots of victims, many lighly injured can be taken care of in this thing at the same time, protected from rain, wind and smoke. At the Intersection all Rescue-Vehicles slow down here if they run red light for safety reasons. After that, they accelerate... Mercedes is good for this. ;) 14:01 A "Notarzt"-Vehicle, this is only to transport an Emergency Doctor to the Scene. The "Rettungswagen" with the equipment and a crew consisting of expericened emergency medical assistants comes from the next fire department, while the Doctor comes from Home or the next Hospital where he was on Stand-By. In some Areas Audi Quattro is the preferred vehicle for this, because it is not only very fast but will reach every destination even in rural areas or when there is snow because of its famous all-wheel-drive-traction. The last clip with the perfect Rettungsgasse is made by a german fire department, the message says "Look, THIS is how it always should be! Every minute counts for the victims! Always remember to keep open the Rettungsgasse, it saves Lives!". They did not make this, because the Rettungsgasse always works like this. There are too many careless people not doing it. Other Drivers usually honk and wave at them, but it doesn't work always. For many years police did not care... but that changes. 😄 The other big problem about accidents: "Gaffer". People watching, taking photos, standing in the way, causing traffic jams because they drive extra slow past the scene to get the best view, watch this: ruclips.net/video/eZOSaBWmI4M/видео.html
In Germany, Mercedes is a normal car brand (of course there are also more luxurious models) - there are Mercedes taxis, police cars, vans, ambulances, campers, buses, trucks, tractor-trailers!!!
Same with BMW; it's considered a luxury brand, but it is widely used by police forces all around Europe. For example, in Poland the BMW 3-series sedans are pretty common patrol cars these days.
There is a reason for an ambulance driving relative slowly. At least in Europe. Consider to have an emergency and you try to keep the person alive by working on them. As a driver you will make sure your colleagues behind you can do their work, so no sudden accelerations or hard braking and driving around corners at a moderate speed. You still drive with lights and siren.
I got an ambulance sent out when I hit my head once, I paid 10€ for that situation. "Hit my head" as in it was a small bleading wound, when the ambulance arrived they looked at me and said I was fine (which I was) and left.
Sometimes with an ambulace also drive slow (and smooth), because of the patient. There are insuries, where you try to avoid sudden braking or sudden movements. Or If you have to treat the patient while driving.
In Germany, you already learn in Driving school that if there is a traffic jam coming to a stop , you have to make space creating the "Rettungsgasse". And not only if there actually is police or Ambulance coming. If you would only make room for them when they are already coming, you would not often have not enough space to manouver your vehicle to the side if you are bumper to bumper with the other cars. General, in Germany the education in driving schools is more important than what i heard about in the US. For Drivers License class B (normal Car) you have at least 30 practical driving hours with the driving school in real traffic BEFORE you can even apply for your Driving exam. The employees of driving schools are not allowed to take your driving exam. If you apply for the Driving exam, there is a designated Driving inspector coming and sitting on the backseat of the car, watching every single Move you make during the exam. During the actual exam, the driving school employee and the Inspector arent allowed to give you any tips or hints. They only tell you where to drive. and after about 45 minutes, you either passed or failed the exam.
I'm more under the impression that the first video you watched was more about showing different Ambulance vehicles less about the speed. And don't forget: When driving an Ambulance with a patient it is more important to drive consistent without too much braking and hard turns than to drive a bit faster, since the patient in the back might be needed to treated.
19:00 its translated “In the event of an accident, every minute often counts for the accident victim's help actively! save lives! ALWAYS keep an emergency exit clear in traffic jams.”
I fell like you dont really get how the ambulance and system work with the vehicles, ambluances come (speaking for germany rn im not sure if its the same in the usa) its usually not that urgent, so they dont have to drive that fast because they would be endangering other drivers since the abulance can tip over in highspeed turns, if it is urgent "Notarzt" gets sent out too which can drive faster since they dont got dem chonky boy ambulances, the ambulances only come with them so they can transport the people to the hospital. Again since theres already someone coming the ambluances only have to drive a bit faster (always different in the typ of situation) but cant just speed through the streets cuz theyre gonna top over. (literally me 🤓)
To be Fair, this is not representative for both sides. Because this is a video of him showing the cars, not the speed or the way the pople move, He took the slow cars so you could see them better. I have seen a lot of videos from both countrys where the emerency vehicles just absolutly try to break the sound barrier. Also there are more reasons to drive slow: 1. its just a exercise 2. Patient loaded up and need to drive carefull 3. its a car column( i dont know what its called in English, in German its im Verband fahren) and then you drive slower so all cars are in the correct distancve to each other) 4. its a non priority emergency
Regarding speed: With both American and German emergency vehicles, it is quite difficult to tell how fast they are really going, as they are filmed from the front most of the time. Also, it depends on what kind of emergency it is. If the ambulance is told that an old lady has fallen and they just need to check on her, they will not drive as fast as they would for a person having a heart attack. Now about the sirens: The problem with the American ones is that it is a continuous tone that loses the attention of road users very quickly and gets lost in all the traffic noise, as the variation in volume and sound is missing. The German sirens are actually specifically designed to stand out from all the traffic noise and not lose attention
That depends on the state. In Northrhine-Westphalia the so called "Hilfsfrist" (the time until a rescue vehicle has to arrive in at least 90% of the missions ) is 8 minutes in urban and 12 minutes in rural areas.
7:22 Think that ambulance has someone on board who needs very careful driving. There are several possible medical indications to drive without any braking or strong vibrations
12:22 they are driving in formation and arent allowed to break it thats why they are driving slow. and NO ! they dont drive to an other parkinglot with lights on !!!!
Have you considered that a moving object seems slower through a zoomed in camera? And in the end the speed doesn't matter as much as the response time, which is naturally slower in the US, because of bigger, less maneuverable emergency vehicles and sprawling city design, that makes everything further apart and creates traffic congestion.
Those sirens have caused a strange effect on me. Many years ago I've witnessed a heavy accident when a car several hundred meters in front of me collided with a car from the opposite direction overtaking. I ended up being the one trying to get emergencies to the place by driving to the next village. Luckily at the second farm I met a man who was even a member of the fire rescue service. He triggered a massive alarm with sirens going on in the area followed by the sirens of the emergency vehicles coming. Still today the slightest sound being only a bit like that siren sound will cause me to have that sound in my head for 10 to 20 minutes. I'm not panicking but I feel alarmed and wonder whether there's actually something going on or if it was just an accidential melody from the radio.
Those areas in Germany are not rural. They were all in Cities. We just don't have so many highrise buildings and we have more trees in the cities. However, I don't think the American Ambulances were too slow.
In what point is a city different from the rest? Yeah in the citys it's worse but that doesn't justify it, does it? It may not represent the entirety of America but American citys for sure. Great content tho. Keep it up! Greetings from Germany!
I saw a video from an american highway, where most of the people in a traffic jam made way for a firetruck. Except for one idiot, who then faced the (verbal) wrath of many other drivers. There will always good and bad drivers on both sides of the big pond
11:10- that's a citybus converted to a big ambulance (it belongs to the fire department) and it's going slow because it's in "the wrong side" to get around stopped traffic And btw- the last clip is a firetruck (HLF 20/16 40/2) HLF is short for "Hilfeleistungs-Löschfahrzeug" and it basicaly means multi-purpose firetruck.
sirens are not always for speed, I was once in an ambulance and they drove slow but with lights. They were not sure if I had broken my spin. They had the sirens on so they can drive more smooth without stopping. Was not in Germany but in Switzerland, but i guess it is similar behavior by our neighbors.
Can confirm. Full signal (light+sound) gives the ambulance right of way so it can go as smooth as possible in such a case. Doesn't have to be excessively fast.
One thing must not be forgotten: the medical rescue service in Germany is structured differently than in the USA. In Germany, there is an emergency doctor who is also alerted in certain cases. However, this system is currently being changed in the direction of the American system. The emergency paramedic, who is currently being introduced in Germany, is now allowed to administer certain medications, for example, which was previously reserved for the emergency doctor. There is also the tele-emergency doctor, who can be contacted in an emergency (e.g. via tablet).
To move your car when emergency cars are responding, is regulated by law in Germany. According to Section 11 (Part 2) of the German Road Traffic Regulations (StVO - Strassenverkehrsordnung), the formation of a rescue lane is already mandatory in the event of gridlocked traffic on freeways and multi-lane roads outside built-up areas. Those who do not form a rescue lane can expect fines of 200 to 320 euros, two points and a one-month driving ban. On multi-lane roads, the emergency lane must be formed between the left-hand lane and all other lanes. In urban areas, all road users should move as far to the side as possible on single-lane roads. Example video for creating a "Rettungsgasse": ruclips.net/video/WfiLITNZudE/видео.html Most trucks (Fire, Ambulance) are Mercedes or MAN. But also IVECO, Scania or Ford can be seen. I would not say, that Germans react better when Ambulances drive with blue lights and sirens. What you say about NYC, that nobody cares - same here in German big cities. In the rural area, the people are more carefully.
Just to clarify a few things (I'm a paramedic in germany) Speed: Within some conditions, german ambulace cars are allowed to go over speed limit - but only if the rest of the traffic isn't put to a risk of injury or accidents. Altough we drive even more carefull, the chance of getting into an accident is about 8-12 times higher when we make use of the special regulations (§35 & §38 StVo, Horns and light together = special rights / regulations like going over red lights and driving over speed limit) - espacially when we drive over speed limit. These special regualtions can be used either by permission from dispatch, or if the patient is critically injured (on own decision). That also means, if there is a lot of traffic going on, we're all safer when driving under or even on speed limit. The people that have called 112 need help, but we can't help if we're part of an accident, due to us going over speed limit. About the cars: German ambulances aren't made just to show off what german cars can do. They're built for practiality and fast access to everything. That's the whole reason behind them being big af. Space is tight, but you can easily work inside if ever something goes wrong. The design from the outside is so that everybody notices them from behind and move out of the way in case of an emergency (although not everybody knows what to do in those kind of situations, which is sad but here we are). Especially the horns and flashy lights being a big part of it (visibility wise).
The bus is a large ambulance for around 3-5 patients lying down and 3-5 patients sitting down. It depends on the configuration in which the bus is travelling.
Watch out for the passenger seat: There are always at least 2 personson board. If the passenger is empty the 2nd person in in the rear caring for a patient. That means for the driver to shift his focus from getting to some place as far as he can to driving as caring as possible for the patient (and his coworker who is often standing ! in the car to care for their passenger). And don't forget ambulances can drive at high speeds but it takes them to get there: A modern abulance on a sprinter chassis weighs between 3,5 and 5 tons (7700 pounds to 11,000 pounds). Even with 150 HP it takes some time to get to speed - not to mention to get them back to standstill in time!
11:45 It is an Ambulance Bus, but it belongs to the Fire Dep. 12:00 They are driving in a convoy, they are not allowed to go faster and it would not even make sense because they would lose each other. 12:30 Probably a mass casualty event in a different place, so no, they are not JUST MOVING. And all in all: They are not slow, it looks like they are, but they drive up to 80 in cities.
If the ambulance is on the way back from the emergency and ha an injured person on board that is treatened during the ride, the driver needs to be more cautious. This might be the reason for an ambulance to drive slow.
From my point of view, I thought I'd share some input... in Sweden, where I live, they have different responses depending on the circumstances and situation. To put it simply, we have three kinds of responses to emergencies; Priority 1 (PRIO 1): lights and sirens. Priority 2 (PRIO 2): usually they run with lights only, sometimes just turning the sirens on for a few seconds at a time when going through intersections. Priority 3 (PRIO 3): not an immediate emergency, they respond without lights and sirens but they are on their way. I would assume most countries run by a similar pattern, including the US, and that may be the case in quite a few of these videos too, I assume. Fun fact: the most common ambulances here are Volvo, Volkswagen or Mercedes. Police typically drive Volvo or Volkswagen. The Fire Department sticks to Scania trucks.
12:30 This convoy of ambulances is a Transport-Zug. They are moved as a group and need to arrive AS A GROUP. Legally they act as ONE car: they drive with minimal distance, even if they don't drive with horn and so don't have special rights, if the first car (here the van with 'notarzt' on it) passes a traffic light in the green state ALL cars will follow (no matter if the traffic light changes to red!). To make them visible as such a convoy they will mostly drive with lights flashing. If they are needed immediately thay will go with horn too, meaning everybody must make room for them. But still it is more important to arrive as a convoy than to arrive a minute early and risks several cars to get lost somewhere. These convoys are employed for example in case of a found bomb. Then may be a hospital or a senior residence nearby has to be evacuated. To move patients confined to bed you need groups of ambulaces to ferry those people off. BTW an ambulance in Germany can't go just at ANY speed. Although they are extempt from most traffic regulations, one rule does still apply: Nobody must be harmed, nobody should be impeded more than necassary. So on strait roads ambulances may go only about 20 km/h (13 miles) over the speed limit (or else in case of an accidents it can have dire consequeces for the driver - remember the 'Nobody must be harmed'-rule. Ambulances are faster in total because everybody has to make room for them and they don't have to idle for minutes at every red light. But even while going through a red light they have to crawl into the intersection until the driver is absolutely sure that all other traffic has stopped before he can accelerate - if an accident happens it is usually concluded to be the ambulance drivers fault.
In the big Trucks (Rettungsdienst = Emergency Services) normally you find only 'Emergency Paramedics' and regular 'Paramedics'. In the regular Cars you find the 'Emergency Doctor' (Notarzt).
I mean... you'd never see a hospitals name on an ambulance in Germany. Or at least it's evry rare, because most ambulances are either run by firehouses or organisations like the red cross. Plus they're positioned in a way over the cities that in a city an ambulance can arrive in any spot in about 8 minutes max after the emergency call was made (for medical emergencies, accidents and fires you call 112, for anything that required police you call 110 in Germany, they're usually able to forward you to each other in case you've called the wrong number accidentally). Usually drivers on the Autobahn are required to form an emergency lane my keeping as far left as possible on the left lane and as far riht on the other lanes as possible, so emergency vehicles, police and tow trucks can get through asap. In cities you're allowed to carefully cross over a red light to get out of the way of emergency vehicles behind you and you can also move onto the sidewalk if that helps to clear the road faster. It's been ignored so often and so badly, that they had to add draconic measures for drivers who fail to keep that emergency lane open, so there's there's penalties like fines, temporary (or permanently) losing your drivers license and even jail sentences on blocking emergency vehicles in Germany. regarding driving fast: Ambulances and emergency vehicles still have to obey most traffic laws in order not to cause accidents. With siren and flashing lights on they're allowed to carefully cross red traffic lights and intersections but they're also mandatory to be driving carefully enough to make sure they're not getting into accidents and to make sure their patients in the back are transported in a way that is somewhat comfortable but also quick. Regarding the Feuerwehr Bus: Yes, that is basically a city bus. There's just a few of them over all of germany, but as far as I know they're used in emergencies with a lot of people on scene to take unharmed or only slightly harmed people off the scene into a place where they can sit down and talk to emergency councellors. And the smaller cars with "Notarzt" written on them sometimes even rather sporty cars, for example some Porsche. They are alarmed when there's an emergency doctor needed on scene, because "regular" paramedics on an ambulancec usually aren't allowed to administer strong medication like morphine or anything that can be easily overdosed or would only be given at an hospital. They have some doses of certain medication in the ambulance they're allowed to give a patient if needed but usually they're just there to take care of the worst at scene and then make sure to move you to a hospital asap.
Just have in mind that in some of those clips you don't know if they are already driving back to the hospital with a patient inside. Why rushing through the traffic if no one is about to die?
There are a couple of rules that apply to Emergency Vehicles in germany that a lot of people don't know: first of: They have are only allowed to drive 3% faster than the current allowed traffic speed. 2. The Emergency vehicle is only allowed to drive over a red light with the maximum allowed traffic speed and under the condition that nobody is in danger when the EV is driving over a red light. 3. The EV is only allowed to pass other drivers if they are certain that they nobody is in danger. 4. Yes you are supposed to make way or as it is called in Germany "Eine Rettungsgasse bilden" but about 40% of people don't really care about it. They just do whatever they want. 5. There are so called "Silent alarms" in which case the EV is allowed to drive like they are in a dangerous situation but are not supposed to turn on sirens or the blue light, due to either a attempt of removing yourself from the world or during an act of terror. There are probably much more rules, but those are the 5 most important. And the reason the Vehicles in those clips weren't driving much faster than in America is because they, either aren't in a active situation or because they can't drive much faster due to whatever condition it is. Another reason is that mostly the City emergency vehicles need to drive faster and not those that were shown. Another thing is that on the "Autobahn" the EV's are always driving like 130 to 140 KMH even if only 120 or 100 kmh are allowed.
When you are going to drive a rescue car, you have to get a briefing ... I was told, we will drive faster if possible, but only 20% over the regular speed limit. You must consider the weight of the car, which is quite more than a regular car ... as example, when I am driving our rescue-car with the boat hooked on, we talk already about more than 5 tons of mass. So you have to drive focused and aware. It is more like driving a truck than driving a car.
Emergency doctor cars like the Audi come separately to the ambulances, they also have a chauffeur. The speed of the ambulances also depends on whether they already have the patient on board, James!
12:40 this are non Regular Emergency Ambulances, there from the Civil Defense Units and are only dispatched in case of Disaster or Mass Cassualty Incidents! there got Dispatched like Volunteer Firefighters and are Crewed by Volunteer Medics and Paramedics which got alerted to the Station
German Ambulances work different than in the US. US Ambulances have the main Objektive to get you as fast as possibel to the Hospital. In Germany they try to stabilize the Patient. In critical Situations they have a Doctor on Bord and if the Patients Situation gets worse they drive slow or even stop to better work on the Patient.
16:00 about the tickets, when they have "Sonderrechte" (emergency vehicel responding to time critical emergendys and privat carts of volantary fire fiters trying to get to the station) they are alloud to disobay all trafic ruels as long as they dont endanger anybody. So when there is an accident most of the time they are deemed parcaly resposible but they dont get ticktes for speeding or red light violations when responding to an emergency that requires quick arival.
Ambulances who already have a patient onboard usually play it slow and gentle for the patient, as that reduces shock state - and because maybe there's already emergency treatment (like setting an IV) occuring.
I can’t really speak on ambulances in germany but as a firefighter I can tell you that EVERYONE on the road moves out of your way. To be fair the sirens on fire engines are physically impossible to ignore 😂
Hi, here in Germany its more not common but it happens more that rescue/ambulance people get attacted because to create RUclips content, they got into a (family) fight or they block someone whos in a hurry and once one of these in a hurry drove the ambulance out of the way to pass.
8:48 even if they didn't get totalled, the US ambulances are privately owned, if you get into an accident you can't just leave and thus someone else is getting that patient and the money they're worth while you potentially have to fight with insurances and fix the car taking at least several hours.
11:45: I think it was a training exercise. In this case, it doesn't make sense to drive to the scene at high speed and put yourself and others in danger. But even in a real operation, it's not important that you arrive quickly, but that you arrive at all and don't cause an accident.
In Denmark, there's a tiny road designated for emergency vehicle, unless a civilians car has to be stopped by police, or there's a problem with the car in question
its simple - emergency vehicles with siren and lights are allowed to go up to 50% faster than the speed limit. If you're in a 50 km/h area, they won't go faster than 75. And well if that road where you complained was only 30 km/h, then they're stuck at 45 km/h
11:17 that vehicle drove on the lanes against the flow of traffick, something nobody turning into that street would expect. and that IS a bus our fire trucks don't come with huge compartments for additional passengers. we have such busses for the police too...
16:05 in theory of course, using the light and siren signal without proper cause for example, or speeding, taking priority or driving across red lights without having them on... but i guess unless a cop on a coffee run sees you driving to the same cafe with the signals turned on, or you get into an accident where you get found out, i doubt there'll be tickets. after all those vehicles (police, fire fighters, both types of ambulances) are owned by the county (? gemeinde/stadt; i'll just use it for now) and while doing their work the county would A have to pay the ticket, B the tickets are paid to the county which results in C several people involved would have to do additional, fully unnecessary paperwork.
As far as I know, police and emergency vehicles can get ticketed... unless they can show they have to break the normal laws to save lives or prevent major damage. Just parking illegally on lunch break... the only thing that prevents the cops from being written up is knowing the Ordnungsamt very well.
There is one, just one very simple rule to the situation whenever you hear sirens coming you way: "React like it's a loved one of yours that needs these emergency responders." You wouldn't want them to die, do you?
I think what helps is on one end that some people who work for that make content where they talk about the hardships of the jobs and try to make aware how you can help as well as it being illegal to not make space. People will straight up immediately get mad at you and ask you stuff like "What if it was a loved one of yours who is in danger? Would you want them to die because some idiot blocked the fucking road?!" Regarding the vehicles being slow in both America and Germany I can just say we did not see the full picture there. We only saw what was right in front of them so I imagine there was some unclarity about the traffic situation. I pass by a hospital regularly and there is a really big junction nearby and they often go slower there because it is hard to tell if people will react properly and causing another accident will certainly not speed up anything. And at least for Germany I can say that sometimes on the way back they have to transport slowly because of the patient's safety. And lastly them looking so nice is a result of making deals with car companies and regularly updgrading. Same goes for buses and trains in some cities. So that really depens on the city. I can tell you for someone who is used to Nurembergs Metros the ones in Essen struck fear in me and killed my ears with their sounds.
The emergency Doctor cars are smaller and can drive with 200+ km/h to the destination. The big Emergency Cars were capt to 120, but these cars (mostly these are LKWs due to the Box and the Equipment, so it's over 3,5 T) With the box on the Back it is little tricky to drive with 140km/h with a Patient inside and outside Wind against the box. They try to get to you in 10 to 15 minutes. The driver is responsible at every driving too due to the Red lights the driver crosses with a few seconds to react to coming cars from Green lights. The Bus was more a support vehicle when big cars accidents happen. This vehicle can be a mobile kitchen. It's often used when a bus has an accident or big fires, so the people at the helping scene can eat, drink and rest. So they can work longer when they try to handle the situation and don't need to leave the Scene due to exhaustion. The bus can be a Small sickbay to build up at the emergency Scene, too. I forgot that every country has another Emergency sound so that the people in the country hear the same noise and can not be distracted. Try to hear German, against an Italy emergency.sound.
You are forgetting one important key factor, James. Ranging from villages all the way to big cities you have one key difference in close proximity to those roads which you (by and large) don't have in the US where you drive everywhere: Pedestrians. Especially children who may get confused by the siren and stumble int the road. And if you were medical personnel you probably wouldn't want someone's kid as a new hood ornament, now would you? In locations where there are no pedestrians, they are indeed booking it. Hard.
Even if you drive an emergency vehicle you still need to watch traffic and you can't just rush over an intersection, the drivers have to slow down a bit for that. And yes, if you have a patient in the back, you won't drive at full speed even if it's urgent. The patient and crew needs to still arrive at the hospital in one piece after all ^^'
im from germany and try 2 explane some things. first the fire fighter "bus" is realy a bus but the inner part is popletly rebuild for special things, like a mass car pileup or somthing other who manny peaople involved. the fast audi "notarzt" was a emergacy doctor who has a fast car 2 reach the acident faster. he only comst by realy serious accidents normaly, like a car crash on a country road as an example. this "notarzt" is also a real doctor and specialized for the hard accidents 2 help and stabilice so fast its possible
The city ambulance situation is crazy. To me the biggest difference in ambulances is that Murican ones are little hospital emergency rooms in themselves, we got tons of equipment in Germany in there too, but not as elaborate and high tech as Murican ambulances. Ours can save lives outside of Hospitals too, but yours are definitely better equipped. And i still love New York, even with the dog eat dog mentality.
10:16 ambulances in Germany drive fast to where they are needed (/obligated to be in less than 10 minutes) but significantly slower with a patient and possibly medical personnel working in the back. but i guess the video is more about the types you can see and how much more uniformly ambulances in Germany are labeled.
The Bus you saw is nit a fire truck, it is called Großraum Rettungswagdn(GRTW) and it is used if to many perplex get injured to get the people with more efectiveniss to the hospital.
James, sir, one of the reasons ALL those ambulance might drive careful, is, when you have a injured person in your car. If some of the EMT try to safe a life during driving, you can´t have a race. And, to be honest here, Idiots are everywhere, regardless of nations. Most drivers know: It could be me inside. You be safe man. Elmar from Germany
In this particular situations they are slow, because there crossing intersections and have to be shire everybody sees them. The crash risk driving with signals is 8 times higher than driving normal. And those 12 vehicles in a row where’re driving in a convoy with a designated speed. A convoy counts as one vehicle and if they would go fast somebody will get lost or cars will push between. This convoys are driven by volunteers that work in the disaster control. And the whole convoy is a ambulance platoon or a supervision convoy. If your coming to Germany again and you will be some where around Frankfurt I can show you our vehicles because I’m volunteering at German Red Cross.
13:56 that's not an ambulance but an emergeny physician (?), we drive doctor's to the patients who might not make it to the hospital without intensive care and in some other cases too...
9:44 You got Mercedes too at 3:35 11:33 That is not our usual type of fire truck. I'm a bit surprised by this one too, tbh. 11:52 Of course there are turbos in there. That's not a generator!
18:36 that's easy to explain the Rettungsgasse is to be prepared without any emergency vehicle needing to be in sight or being heard. as long as traffick got to a crawl everyone has to move to the sides, but there always are some idiots not having gotten the memo as you can see with the one on the left. as such you just drive on your lane while keeping the rescue lane free and thus you end up like that instead of hastily driving to the side vehicles.
I dont think he knows that in an ambulance, there is a lot of equipment or even patients in the back so they cant be zooming around like police vehicles That's also why the sedans from the notarzt and trucks that just pulled out of the station are a lot quicker.
11:35 this bus is an ambulance and its called an "großraum rettungswagen" and it can carry more patients then a normal "rettungswagen" and when i first saw it i also couldnt belive that it really looks like a bus😂 (Edit) and as an german who wants to be a paramedic i enjoyed seing both american and german ambulances compared (=
The more footage I watch the more I realize Germany has a far better public response to emergency vehicles than Americans 😭😭 that’s so wild to me! At this point what does America do a lil bit better than Germany?
You find the german emergency cars slow? Then you didn'T have seen the japanese one. ruclips.net/video/Px3g6q2xKS4/видео.html
BBQ
NASA is something Americans can or should be proud off because that’s where their health insurance money goes into wich is why they don’t have healthcare but it seriously helps the world because space exploration is also an important thing wich ESA or DLR don’t do all too well since the governmental interest is more centered towards earth like its own citizens and not space
@@stiegelzeine2186well you’re right but I don’t like that ur right, like aliens aren’t more important then humans
Two things to mention:
1.: We don't know why the ambulances were going slow. Might be that they already transport a patient, and thus have to go slow, OR they see something ahead of them and KNOW they can not go fast.
So, without any further information, I just assume they are going as fast as possible.
2.: Here in Germany, the WDR (West Deutscher Rundfunk, West German Broadcast) currently hosts a documentary series by the name of "Feuer & Flamme" (Fire & Flame), which documents the work of firefighters in certain citys (mostly in the Ruhr Metropolitan Area).
They gave the firefighters cameras (GoPros or similar style), plus the camera team is showing up when called for additional footage.
The series shows footage of the rescue work, added by woven in interviews from the firefighters.
If you want to check out a particular episode showing how the Rettungs-Gasse _DIDN'T_ work to well, check this one out:
Keine Rettungsgasse in der Baustelle | S02/E01 | Feuer & Flamme | WDR
ruclips.net/video/Mbl7Bg8OzsQ/видео.html
You can see some VERY angry fire fighters here, and rightfully so. ^^
The auto translate feature from youtube works OK on this one, although only the interview-segments are translated; in my opinion, the translation is good enough so one gets what is going on.
Greetings from Germany, and keep up the good work! :D
I am a German paramedic and I drive through the city in an ambulance every day with blue lights and sirens and I can tell you there are people who make absolutely no room, although I have to say that it has gotten a lot better since there have been many reports on rescue workers on television
The fire brigade bus is used to transport citizens in dangerous situations. It is a normal city bus with blue lights and a siren. It is used when, for example, a World War II bomb has been found and needs to be defused in order to evacuate people quickly
Furthermore, there are various vehicles in Germany. There is an "Rettungswagen" (abbreviated RTW) that is an emergency vehicle that is usually a matter of life and death when it is dispatched and then there is an "Krankenwagen" (abbreviated KTW) that is there to transport people who need to go to the doctor or hospital where it is not urgent. We kindly call it the emergency service taxi, then there is an emergency medical vehicle, the so-called "Notarzteinsatzfahrzeug" (abbreviated NEF) in which an emergency doctor is transported
ich weiß ja nicht in welcher Stadt in NRW du fährst, aber in München haben wir kaum Probleme mitm RTW durch zu kommen
Der Bus ist kein normaler Stadtbus der für Evakuierungen genutzt wird sondern ein GRTW
@@EnjoyFirefightinggibt aber beides, GRTW und normale Busse mit Blaulicht, je nach Anwendung
@@th3gre3nman ja, aber das ist ein GRTW
@@EnjoyFirefighting alles klar, danke 👍🏼
Alles Gute für Ihre Zukunft!!! Und ein ganz großes DANKE SHÖN an alle die versuchen Leben zu retten.
Elmar aus dem Remstal
James, I've seen ambulances driving slow in Germany too. They usually do if the patient isn't in a life threatening condition, or if his injuries are so severe that very cautious driving is required and medical professionals are in there too to observe the state of the patient. Typically the ambulances have a lot of equipment for even complex treatments of patients today. That allows more often to avoid rushing to an A&E reception of a hospital.
Of course they'll drive fast for getting to a place of a amedical incident.
To be honest, I was a bit doubtful when I saw for the first time on the Internet that people in the US wouldn't make way for emergency vehicles. Thank you for sharing your experiences and views correcting those first impressions.
BTW, it has become more of an issue about 30 years ago when emergency professionals more and more frequently reported having difficulties to get to places of an accident. Only then public awareness of traffic density having reached levels causing such difficulties was triggering a more significant public debate about that situation. At that time some of our neighbours had made creating emergency lanes a law already.
Speed: it's not about the vehicle not tipping iver, but the patients in the back not falling off the stretcher in each curve. Imagine the stress for the paramedics, having to lift them back up every two minutes!
I was in an ambulance once and I was tied to the stretcher with several seatbelt type „restraints“ almost (not really restrained, I could move my arms but several straps across my torso and my legs)
I doubt I could have fallen off the stretcher at all
9:48 Mercedes is the standard; Literally like 95 to 98% of the ambulances are based on the Mercedes Sprinter - btw just like some of the ambulances seen in the US part of the video were Mercedes Sprinters as well
10:10 because that ambulance is transporting a patient and you just can't rush through a roundabout at full speed with a patient in the back without him having pain or throwing up; And that clip is not quite from a rural area, rather a town of 50k inhabitants which obviously is still a small place compared to NYC
11:15 it's slow because there's a red traffic light; Neither in the US nor in Germany they'd rush through a red light at full speed
11:30 yes it IS an ambulance bus, a Large Capacity Ambulance Bus, operated by the FD; And yes they have the same chassis like city busses
11:58 that's literally an entire convoy, and they're not heading to an actual emergency but just a mass casualty drill - no reason to go really fast there
12:30 someone was trolling when he made this video? No ... they never said sth about how people react towards the ambulances in the US compared to Germany, it was only about the ambulances themselves! You try to interpret way too much into it!
17:02 again a red light
It's cheaper to get a ride in a German ambulance.
KTW Hannover - Berlin 1000 € gesetzlich versichert
@@weinhainde2550 Ein KTW ist auch eher ein Taxi für Personen die liegend transportiert werden müssen. Zudem war die Verlegung dann auch privat und für die Genesung nicht von Bedeutung, sonst hätte es die KV übernehmen müssen.
@@Naanhanyrazzu du hast glaube ich was falsch verstanden. ich hab das gepostet weil ich es nicht teuer fand. Ich habe den Eigenanteil genannt, es war eine Art Umzug von Altenheim zu Altenheim aus privaten Gründen, eine Fahrt mit Pkw war nicht möglich. Genesung war kein Thema.
The best doctor in our region died in a traffic accident, while he was driving to an emergency.
He was going too fast and broke traffic rules - which would have been okay, but the truck that hit him couldn't make him out early enough. There is a reason the traffic rules are the way they are.
There is a rule in Germany that says: You have to help. But you should do it in a safe way.
So it is the reponsibility of the emergency drivers to get to the accidents without having an accident themselves.
10:15 ye they go just as fast but the differnece is that the german ambulance is going around a corner while the american has the same speed on a streight line
11:12 it is a bus , aka. Großraumrettungswagen it is for Mass casualty incident (MANV/Massenanfall von Verletzten) so they can transport and accommodate many people , like when u have a big explosion or smth.
12:17 when something needs to go faster we have well equipped adac rescue helicopters that can be called in for emergency all over germany
A big difference are the sirens. German sirens - and european in general - can be heard from miles away and you can distinguish if they are moving away or towards you. American sirens are this strange wall of noise that suddenly is behind you, leaving people no time to react. They sound a bit cooler though but that's about it.
"and european in general " sirens across Europe are very different, with a greater variety than in the US
11:47 It is called a disaster control unit or SEG (rapid response unit). When a disaster such as a storm or an attack etc. occurs, these units are alerted and then drive to the scene in a convoy. Therefore, they are usually not as fast as a single vehicle, because they only ever drive as fast as the slowest vehicle in the convoy. Furthermore, they drive throughout the entire federal state and/or even the entire country and are then called overland assistance.
Die Rettungswagen haben zwar Sonderrechte, aber es gibt trotzdem Regeln, an die sie sich halten müssen. Die müssen an Kreuzungen oder Ampeln entsprechend langsamer fahren, um Gefährdungen des Verkehrs zu verhindern. Deswegen sind sie zum Teil langsam unterwegs.
Das ist auch sinnvoll. Vor einigen Jahren ist bei uns ein Rettungswagen der DLRG im Einsatz mit einem Fahrzeug zusammengekracht, dessen Fahrer an dieser recht großen Kreuzung eine rote Ampel überfahren hatte. War ziemlich übel.
my 2 cents as a german paramedic: Sure we have the right of the way but we have to drive with a high level of attention and respecting the traffic so as not to endanger anyone cause the sirene is a factor of stress for every one on the street cause of the pressure to give way, we drive very carefully, especially in the city. Of course there are also faster journeys on main roads and expressways or highways, but in built-up areas you always have to expect that someone will run in front of your car or that someone will (very often) be unable to make room for us to pass, so as already mentioned, drive slowly. True to the motto: Better to arrive safely than to die safely
I‘m born and raised in Germany. Currently living in Switzerland. It’s standard to let the ambulance pass. The sirens are really loud so you can react without rushing and put yourself or others in danger.
Same in uk
@@emsyvafDo you have to pay a fine for blocking the ambulance, too? (Asking because I really don’t know)
@@JasminMernicain Germany, yes. Particularly on the Autobahn police might register such violations sometimes when first responders report difficulties with other drivers.
@@michaelburggraf2822 Weiss nicht, wie hoch das Bussgeld mittlerweile in Deutschland ist, aber in der Schweiz sind es umgerechnet 120 €. Die Bussen hier tun richtig weh. 🥲
In Germany blocking emergency vehicles is a punishable act. Depending on the severity of the act itself the fine may be in the four or five digit area. Fines like this are often calculated from your (daily) income. You may even go to jail for it. It is much more severe than just a traffic violation.
How hard do you think the rescue Vehicles in Germany should floor it? They of course have to slow down at intersections and such especially when going over Red lights, their goal is timely and SAFE arrival at wherever they got called and not to beat Speed Records XD and Ambulances are allowed to drive up to 90kph in city Limits afaik. You also have to remember our regular Streets usually have 30-50kph Speedlimit in City Limits. Not 45mph on regular Roads like in the US lol Also the Fascination of Work Vehicles in Car Size that aren't Pick Up Trucks is adorable. That Notarzt Car probably had like 120 horsepower or something which ain't bad but no Nitrous Boost, literally just a regular Car marked as emergency Vehicle for a Doctor to get to the Scene quickly separately from the Ambulance.
When you have broken bones or a metal bar stuck inside, you don't wanna wait at red lights, but you also would cry out in pain at every bump or g-force. It's not just about speed, it's also about a gentle ride!
The title of the original video doesnt say how americans or germans react to ambulances! Its only a compare between vehicles!
exactly!
11:35 This is a "Großraumrettungswagen" ("Large Room Medical Emergency Vehicle"), for Situations with lots of victims, many lighly injured can be taken care of in this thing at the same time, protected from rain, wind and smoke. At the Intersection all Rescue-Vehicles slow down here if they run red light for safety reasons. After that, they accelerate... Mercedes is good for this. ;)
14:01 A "Notarzt"-Vehicle, this is only to transport an Emergency Doctor to the Scene. The "Rettungswagen" with the equipment and a crew consisting of expericened emergency medical assistants comes from the next fire department, while the Doctor comes from Home or the next Hospital where he was on Stand-By. In some Areas Audi Quattro is the preferred vehicle for this, because it is not only very fast but will reach every destination even in rural areas or when there is snow because of its famous all-wheel-drive-traction.
The last clip with the perfect Rettungsgasse is made by a german fire department, the message says "Look, THIS is how it always should be! Every minute counts for the victims! Always remember to keep open the Rettungsgasse, it saves Lives!". They did not make this, because the Rettungsgasse always works like this. There are too many careless people not doing it. Other Drivers usually honk and wave at them, but it doesn't work always. For many years police did not care... but that changes. 😄
The other big problem about accidents: "Gaffer". People watching, taking photos, standing in the way, causing traffic jams because they drive extra slow past the scene to get the best view, watch this: ruclips.net/video/eZOSaBWmI4M/видео.html
In Germany, Mercedes is a normal car brand (of course there are also more luxurious models) - there are Mercedes taxis, police cars, vans, ambulances, campers, buses, trucks, tractor-trailers!!!
There were some Mercs as well in the American footage.
Same with BMW; it's considered a luxury brand, but it is widely used by police forces all around Europe. For example, in Poland the BMW 3-series sedans are pretty common patrol cars these days.
There is a reason for an ambulance driving relative slowly. At least in Europe. Consider to have an emergency and you try to keep the person alive by working on them. As a driver you will make sure your colleagues behind you can do their work, so no sudden accelerations or hard braking and driving around corners at a moderate speed. You still drive with lights and siren.
12:38 In germany its illegal to drive with sirens on when there is no emergency.
I got an ambulance sent out when I hit my head once, I paid 10€ for that situation.
"Hit my head" as in it was a small bleading wound, when the ambulance arrived they looked at me and said I was fine (which I was) and left.
Sometimes with an ambulace also drive slow (and smooth), because of the patient. There are insuries, where you try to avoid sudden braking or sudden movements. Or If you have to treat the patient while driving.
In Germany, you already learn in Driving school that if there is a traffic jam coming to a stop , you have to make space creating the "Rettungsgasse". And not only if there actually is police or Ambulance coming. If you would only make room for them when they are already coming, you would not often have not enough space to manouver your vehicle to the side if you are bumper to bumper with the other cars.
General, in Germany the education in driving schools is more important than what i heard about in the US. For Drivers License class B (normal Car) you have at least 30 practical driving hours with the driving school in real traffic BEFORE you can even apply for your Driving exam. The employees of driving schools are not allowed to take your driving exam. If you apply for the Driving exam, there is a designated Driving inspector coming and sitting on the backseat of the car, watching every single Move you make during the exam.
During the actual exam, the driving school employee and the Inspector arent allowed to give you any tips or hints. They only tell you where to drive. and after about 45 minutes, you either passed or failed the exam.
I'm more under the impression that the first video you watched was more about showing different Ambulance vehicles less about the speed.
And don't forget: When driving an Ambulance with a patient it is more important to drive consistent without too much braking and hard turns than to drive a bit faster, since the patient in the back might be needed to treated.
19:00 its translated “In the event of an accident, every minute often counts for the accident victim's
help actively! save lives!
ALWAYS keep an emergency exit clear in traffic jams.”
I fell like you dont really get how the ambulance and system work with the vehicles, ambluances come (speaking for germany rn im not sure if its the same in the usa) its usually not that urgent, so they dont have to drive that fast because they would be endangering other drivers since the abulance can tip over in highspeed turns, if it is urgent "Notarzt" gets sent out too which can drive faster since they dont got dem chonky boy ambulances, the ambulances only come with them so they can transport the people to the hospital. Again since theres already someone coming the ambluances only have to drive a bit faster (always different in the typ of situation) but cant just speed through the streets cuz theyre gonna top over. (literally me 🤓)
To be Fair, this is not representative for both sides. Because this is a video of him showing the cars, not the speed or the way the pople move, He took the slow cars so you could see them better. I have seen a lot of videos from both countrys where the emerency vehicles just absolutly try to break the sound barrier.
Also there are more reasons to drive slow:
1. its just a exercise
2. Patient loaded up and need to drive carefull
3. its a car column( i dont know what its called in English, in German its im Verband fahren) and then you drive slower so all cars are in the correct distancve to each other)
4. its a non priority emergency
Regarding speed: With both American and German emergency vehicles, it is quite difficult to tell how fast they are really going, as they are filmed from the front most of the time. Also, it depends on what kind of emergency it is. If the ambulance is told that an old lady has fallen and they just need to check on her, they will not drive as fast as they would for a person having a heart attack.
Now about the sirens: The problem with the American ones is that it is a continuous tone that loses the attention of road users very quickly and gets lost in all the traffic noise, as the variation in volume and sound is missing. The German sirens are actually specifically designed to stand out from all the traffic noise and not lose attention
The ambulance must be there in 8-10 minutes.
Nope, it "should" be there in 10 Minutes.
That depends on the state. In Northrhine-Westphalia the so called "Hilfsfrist" (the time until a rescue vehicle has to arrive in at least 90% of the missions ) is 8 minutes in urban and 12 minutes in rural areas.
@@hschmidt79 if tze abulance is not abke to do so they call someone in the area, who is qualifide to help till the ambulance arrives
7:22 Think that ambulance has someone on board who needs very careful driving. There are several possible medical indications to drive without any braking or strong vibrations
The first video isn’t about how good or bad other drivers react to an Ambulance. It just compares the vehicles itselves to each other.
12:22 they are driving in formation and arent allowed to break it thats why they are driving slow.
and NO ! they dont drive to an other parkinglot with lights on !!!!
Diese Kommentarsektion ist nun offizielles Eigentum der Bundesrepublik Deutschland🇩🇪
Have you considered that a moving object seems slower through a zoomed in camera? And in the end the speed doesn't matter as much as the response time, which is naturally slower in the US, because of bigger, less maneuverable emergency vehicles and sprawling city design, that makes everything further apart and creates traffic congestion.
Those sirens have caused a strange effect on me. Many years ago I've witnessed a heavy accident when a car several hundred meters in front of me collided with a car from the opposite direction overtaking. I ended up being the one trying to get emergencies to the place by driving to the next village. Luckily at the second farm I met a man who was even a member of the fire rescue service. He triggered a massive alarm with sirens going on in the area followed by the sirens of the emergency vehicles coming.
Still today the slightest sound being only a bit like that siren sound will cause me to have that sound in my head for 10 to 20 minutes. I'm not panicking but I feel alarmed and wonder whether there's actually something going on or if it was just an accidential melody from the radio.
From what I experience only 1 of 300 cars don't move to left or right
Those areas in Germany are not rural. They were all in Cities. We just don't have so many highrise buildings and we have more trees in the cities. However, I don't think the American Ambulances were too slow.
They were all in cities? Some of the clips are from a small village in the countryside ...
In what point is a city different from the rest? Yeah in the citys it's worse but that doesn't justify it, does it? It may not represent the entirety of America but American citys for sure.
Great content tho. Keep it up!
Greetings from Germany!
They are not allowed to speed through red lights so they have to slow down to not create their own emergency situation. This would not help anybody.
I saw a video from an american highway, where most of the people in a traffic jam made way for a firetruck. Except for one idiot, who then faced the (verbal) wrath of many other drivers. There will always good and bad drivers on both sides of the big pond
11:10- that's a citybus converted to a big ambulance (it belongs to the fire department) and it's going slow because it's in "the wrong side" to get around stopped traffic
And btw- the last clip is a firetruck (HLF 20/16 40/2) HLF is short for "Hilfeleistungs-Löschfahrzeug" and it basicaly means multi-purpose firetruck.
sirens are not always for speed, I was once in an ambulance and they drove slow but with lights. They were not sure if I had broken my spin. They had the sirens on so they can drive more smooth without stopping. Was not in Germany but in Switzerland, but i guess it is similar behavior by our neighbors.
Can confirm. Full signal (light+sound) gives the ambulance right of way so it can go as smooth as possible in such a case. Doesn't have to be excessively fast.
One thing must not be forgotten: the medical rescue service in Germany is structured differently than in the USA. In Germany, there is an emergency doctor who is also alerted in certain cases. However, this system is currently being changed in the direction of the American system. The emergency paramedic, who is currently being introduced in Germany, is now allowed to administer certain medications, for example, which was previously reserved for the emergency doctor. There is also the tele-emergency doctor, who can be contacted in an emergency (e.g. via tablet).
To move your car when emergency cars are responding, is regulated by law in Germany. According to Section 11 (Part 2) of the German Road Traffic Regulations (StVO - Strassenverkehrsordnung), the formation of a rescue lane is already mandatory in the event of gridlocked traffic on freeways and multi-lane roads outside built-up areas. Those who do not form a rescue lane can expect fines of 200 to 320 euros, two points and a one-month driving ban.
On multi-lane roads, the emergency lane must be formed between the left-hand lane and all other lanes. In urban areas, all road users should move as far to the side as possible on single-lane roads. Example video for creating a "Rettungsgasse": ruclips.net/video/WfiLITNZudE/видео.html
Most trucks (Fire, Ambulance) are Mercedes or MAN. But also IVECO, Scania or Ford can be seen. I would not say, that Germans react better when Ambulances drive with blue lights and sirens. What you say about NYC, that nobody cares - same here in German big cities. In the rural area, the people are more carefully.
Just to clarify a few things (I'm a paramedic in germany)
Speed: Within some conditions, german ambulace cars are allowed to go over speed limit - but only if the rest of the traffic isn't put to a risk of injury or accidents. Altough we drive even more carefull, the chance of getting into an accident is about 8-12 times higher when we make use of the special regulations (§35 & §38 StVo, Horns and light together = special rights / regulations like going over red lights and driving over speed limit) - espacially when we drive over speed limit.
These special regualtions can be used either by permission from dispatch, or if the patient is critically injured (on own decision).
That also means, if there is a lot of traffic going on, we're all safer when driving under or even on speed limit. The people that have called 112 need help, but we can't help if we're part of an accident, due to us going over speed limit.
About the cars: German ambulances aren't made just to show off what german cars can do. They're built for practiality and fast access to everything. That's the whole reason behind them being big af. Space is tight, but you can easily work inside if ever something goes wrong.
The design from the outside is so that everybody notices them from behind and move out of the way in case of an emergency (although not everybody knows what to do in those kind of situations, which is sad but here we are). Especially the horns and flashy lights being a big part of it (visibility wise).
The bus is a large ambulance for around 3-5 patients lying down and 3-5 patients sitting down. It depends on the configuration in which the bus is travelling.
Watch out for the passenger seat: There are always at least 2 personson board. If the passenger is empty the 2nd person in in the rear caring for a patient. That means for the driver to shift his focus from getting to some place as far as he can to driving as caring as possible for the patient (and his coworker who is often standing ! in the car to care for their passenger).
And don't forget ambulances can drive at high speeds but it takes them to get there: A modern abulance on a sprinter chassis weighs between 3,5 and 5 tons (7700 pounds to 11,000 pounds). Even with 150 HP it takes some time to get to speed - not to mention to get them back to standstill in time!
3:25 James completly ignoring the 2 Mercedes Sprinter🤣
10:35 ETZALLA, James ist auch ein haider🤣🤣🤣👍
11:45 It is an Ambulance Bus, but it belongs to the Fire Dep.
12:00 They are driving in a convoy, they are not allowed to go faster and it would not even make sense because they would lose each other.
12:30 Probably a mass casualty event in a different place, so no, they are not JUST MOVING.
And all in all: They are not slow, it looks like they are, but they drive up to 80 in cities.
If the ambulance is on the way back from the emergency and ha an injured person on board that is treatened during the ride, the driver needs to be more cautious. This might be the reason for an ambulance to drive slow.
From my point of view, I thought I'd share some input... in Sweden, where I live, they have different responses depending on the circumstances and situation. To put it simply, we have three kinds of responses to emergencies;
Priority 1 (PRIO 1): lights and sirens.
Priority 2 (PRIO 2): usually they run with lights only, sometimes just turning the sirens on for a few seconds at a time when going through intersections.
Priority 3 (PRIO 3): not an immediate emergency, they respond without lights and sirens but they are on their way.
I would assume most countries run by a similar pattern, including the US, and that may be the case in quite a few of these videos too, I assume.
Fun fact: the most common ambulances here are Volvo, Volkswagen or Mercedes.
Police typically drive Volvo or Volkswagen.
The Fire Department sticks to Scania trucks.
Look at Feuerwehr BITTE!!!
12:30 This convoy of ambulances is a Transport-Zug. They are moved as a group and need to arrive AS A GROUP. Legally they act as ONE car: they drive with minimal distance, even if they don't drive with horn and so don't have special rights, if the first car (here the van with 'notarzt' on it) passes a traffic light in the green state ALL cars will follow (no matter if the traffic light changes to red!). To make them visible as such a convoy they will mostly drive with lights flashing. If they are needed immediately thay will go with horn too, meaning everybody must make room for them. But still it is more important to arrive as a convoy than to arrive a minute early and risks several cars to get lost somewhere.
These convoys are employed for example in case of a found bomb. Then may be a hospital or a senior residence nearby has to be evacuated. To move patients confined to bed you need groups of ambulaces to ferry those people off.
BTW an ambulance in Germany can't go just at ANY speed. Although they are extempt from most traffic regulations, one rule does still apply: Nobody must be harmed, nobody should be impeded more than necassary. So on strait roads ambulances may go only about 20 km/h (13 miles) over the speed limit (or else in case of an accidents it can have dire consequeces for the driver - remember the 'Nobody must be harmed'-rule. Ambulances are faster in total because everybody has to make room for them and they don't have to idle for minutes at every red light. But even while going through a red light they have to crawl into the intersection until the driver is absolutely sure that all other traffic has stopped before he can accelerate - if an accident happens it is usually concluded to be the ambulance drivers fault.
In the big Trucks (Rettungsdienst = Emergency Services) normally you find only 'Emergency Paramedics' and regular 'Paramedics'.
In the regular Cars you find the 'Emergency Doctor' (Notarzt).
I mean... you'd never see a hospitals name on an ambulance in Germany. Or at least it's evry rare, because most ambulances are either run by firehouses or organisations like the red cross.
Plus they're positioned in a way over the cities that in a city an ambulance can arrive in any spot in about 8 minutes max after the emergency call was made (for medical emergencies, accidents and fires you call 112, for anything that required police you call 110 in Germany, they're usually able to forward you to each other in case you've called the wrong number accidentally).
Usually drivers on the Autobahn are required to form an emergency lane my keeping as far left as possible on the left lane and as far riht on the other lanes as possible, so emergency vehicles, police and tow trucks can get through asap. In cities you're allowed to carefully cross over a red light to get out of the way of emergency vehicles behind you and you can also move onto the sidewalk if that helps to clear the road faster.
It's been ignored so often and so badly, that they had to add draconic measures for drivers who fail to keep that emergency lane open, so there's there's penalties like fines, temporary (or permanently) losing your drivers license and even jail sentences on blocking emergency vehicles in Germany.
regarding driving fast: Ambulances and emergency vehicles still have to obey most traffic laws in order not to cause accidents.
With siren and flashing lights on they're allowed to carefully cross red traffic lights and intersections but they're also mandatory to be driving carefully enough to make sure they're not getting into accidents and to make sure their patients in the back are transported in a way that is somewhat comfortable but also quick.
Regarding the Feuerwehr Bus: Yes, that is basically a city bus. There's just a few of them over all of germany, but as far as I know they're used in emergencies with a lot of people on scene to take unharmed or only slightly harmed people off the scene into a place where they can sit down and talk to emergency councellors.
And the smaller cars with "Notarzt" written on them sometimes even rather sporty cars, for example some Porsche.
They are alarmed when there's an emergency doctor needed on scene, because "regular" paramedics on an ambulancec usually aren't allowed to administer strong medication like morphine or anything that can be easily overdosed or would only be given at an hospital. They have some doses of certain medication in the ambulance they're allowed to give a patient if needed but usually they're just there to take care of the worst at scene and then make sure to move you to a hospital asap.
Just have in mind that in some of those clips you don't know if they are already driving back to the hospital with a patient inside. Why rushing through the traffic if no one is about to die?
There are a couple of rules that apply to Emergency Vehicles in germany that a lot of people don't know: first of: They have are only allowed to drive 3% faster than the current allowed traffic speed. 2. The Emergency vehicle is only allowed to drive over a red light with the maximum allowed traffic speed and under the condition that nobody is in danger when the EV is driving over a red light.
3. The EV is only allowed to pass other drivers if they are certain that they nobody is in danger.
4. Yes you are supposed to make way or as it is called in Germany "Eine Rettungsgasse bilden" but about 40% of people don't really care about it. They just do whatever they want.
5. There are so called "Silent alarms" in which case the EV is allowed to drive like they are in a dangerous situation but are not supposed to turn on sirens or the blue light, due to either a attempt of removing yourself from the world or during an act of terror.
There are probably much more rules, but those are the 5 most important. And the reason the Vehicles in those clips weren't driving much faster than in America is because they, either aren't in a active situation or because they can't drive much faster due to whatever condition it is. Another reason is that mostly the City emergency vehicles need to drive faster and not those that were shown. Another thing is that on the "Autobahn" the EV's are always driving like 130 to 140 KMH even if only 120 or 100 kmh are allowed.
Very nice Video about the Rescue Vehicles. Greetings from Stuttgart (DE)
When you are going to drive a rescue car, you have to get a briefing ... I was told, we will drive faster if possible, but only 20% over the regular speed limit. You must consider the weight of the car, which is quite more than a regular car ... as example, when I am driving our rescue-car with the boat hooked on, we talk already about more than 5 tons of mass. So you have to drive focused and aware. It is more like driving a truck than driving a car.
Emergency doctor cars like the Audi come separately to the ambulances, they also have a chauffeur.
The speed of the ambulances also depends on whether they already have the patient on board, James!
12:40 this are non Regular Emergency Ambulances, there from the Civil Defense Units and are only dispatched in case of Disaster or Mass Cassualty Incidents! there got Dispatched like Volunteer Firefighters and are Crewed by Volunteer Medics and Paramedics which got alerted to the Station
German Ambulances work different than in the US. US Ambulances have the main Objektive to get you as fast as possibel to the Hospital. In Germany they try to stabilize the Patient. In critical Situations they have a Doctor on Bord and if the Patients Situation gets worse they drive slow or even stop to better work on the Patient.
11:15 its a firefigther bus not a truck me as german nerver saw a bus like this before
11:45 that is a specialized transport task force (for disasters etc); for them staying together is more important than maximum speed:
16:00 about the tickets, when they have "Sonderrechte" (emergency vehicel responding to time critical emergendys and privat carts of volantary fire fiters trying to get to the station) they are alloud to disobay all trafic ruels as long as they dont endanger anybody. So when there is an accident most of the time they are deemed parcaly resposible but they dont get ticktes for speeding or red light violations when responding to an emergency that requires quick arival.
At 11:41 you sad it is a firetruck but it is a special ambulance. You can Transport 10 guys at the same time. We take it for Football games⚽️
Ambulances who already have a patient onboard usually play it slow and gentle for the patient, as that reduces shock state - and because maybe there's already emergency treatment (like setting an IV) occuring.
No wonder those ambulances drive slow when you emergency halt them every few seconds.
I can’t really speak on ambulances in germany but as a firefighter I can tell you that EVERYONE on the road moves out of your way. To be fair the sirens on fire engines are physically impossible to ignore 😂
Hi, here in Germany its more not common but it happens more that rescue/ambulance people get attacted because to create RUclips content, they got into a (family) fight or they block someone whos in a hurry and once one of these in a hurry drove the ambulance out of the way to pass.
8:48 even if they didn't get totalled, the US ambulances are privately owned, if you get into an accident you can't just leave and thus someone else is getting that patient and the money they're worth while you potentially have to fight with insurances and fix the car taking at least several hours.
oh and of course people need to be able to read the ads on the side so they know which ambulance they should call if they need one.
at 11:28 . It is a Ambulance bus We call it ManV It's Mostly used to Transport Mass Injured People.
11:45: I think it was a training exercise. In this case, it doesn't make sense to drive to the scene at high speed and put yourself and others in danger. But even in a real operation, it's not important that you arrive quickly, but that you arrive at all and don't cause an accident.
In Denmark, there's a tiny road designated for emergency vehicle, unless a civilians car has to be stopped by police, or there's a problem with the car in question
"you dont hear 'I´m gonna sue you' in germany that much" best thing I´ve heard today
its simple - emergency vehicles with siren and lights are allowed to go up to 50% faster than the speed limit.
If you're in a 50 km/h area, they won't go faster than 75.
And well if that road where you complained was only 30 km/h, then they're stuck at 45 km/h
can also go 100% faster, or even more than that
11:17 that vehicle drove on the lanes against the flow of traffick, something nobody turning into that street would expect. and that IS a bus our fire trucks don't come with huge compartments for additional passengers.
we have such busses for the police too...
16:05
in theory of course, using the light and siren signal without proper cause for example, or speeding, taking priority or driving across red lights without having them on...
but i guess unless a cop on a coffee run sees you driving to the same cafe with the signals turned on, or you get into an accident where you get found out, i doubt there'll be tickets. after all those vehicles (police, fire fighters, both types of ambulances) are owned by the county (? gemeinde/stadt; i'll just use it for now) and while doing their work the county would A have to pay the ticket, B the tickets are paid to the county which results in C several people involved would have to do additional, fully unnecessary paperwork.
As far as I know, police and emergency vehicles can get ticketed... unless they can show they have to break the normal laws to save lives or prevent major damage. Just parking illegally on lunch break... the only thing that prevents the cops from being written up is knowing the Ordnungsamt very well.
There is one, just one very simple rule to the situation whenever you hear sirens coming you way:
"React like it's a loved one of yours that needs these emergency responders."
You wouldn't want them to die, do you?
I think what helps is on one end that some people who work for that make content where they talk about the hardships of the jobs and try to make aware how you can help as well as it being illegal to not make space. People will straight up immediately get mad at you and ask you stuff like "What if it was a loved one of yours who is in danger? Would you want them to die because some idiot blocked the fucking road?!"
Regarding the vehicles being slow in both America and Germany I can just say we did not see the full picture there. We only saw what was right in front of them so I imagine there was some unclarity about the traffic situation. I pass by a hospital regularly and there is a really big junction nearby and they often go slower there because it is hard to tell if people will react properly and causing another accident will certainly not speed up anything. And at least for Germany I can say that sometimes on the way back they have to transport slowly because of the patient's safety.
And lastly them looking so nice is a result of making deals with car companies and regularly updgrading. Same goes for buses and trains in some cities. So that really depens on the city. I can tell you for someone who is used to Nurembergs Metros the ones in Essen struck fear in me and killed my ears with their sounds.
The emergency Doctor cars are smaller and can drive with 200+ km/h to the destination. The big Emergency Cars were capt to 120, but these cars (mostly these are LKWs due to the Box and the Equipment, so it's over 3,5 T) With the box on the Back it is little tricky to drive with 140km/h with a Patient inside and outside Wind against the box. They try to get to you in 10 to 15 minutes.
The driver is responsible at every driving too due to the Red lights the driver crosses with a few seconds to react to coming cars from Green lights.
The Bus was more a support vehicle when big cars accidents happen. This vehicle can be a mobile kitchen. It's often used when a bus has an accident or big fires, so the people at the helping scene can eat, drink and rest. So they can work longer when they try to handle the situation and don't need to leave the Scene due to exhaustion. The bus can be a Small sickbay to build up at the emergency Scene, too.
I forgot that every country has another Emergency sound so that the people in the country hear the same noise and can not be distracted. Try to hear German, against an Italy emergency.sound.
Der Bus kann KEINE mobile Küche sein, das ist ein Großraumrettungswagen
You are forgetting one important key factor, James. Ranging from villages all the way to big cities you have one key difference in close proximity to those roads which you (by and large) don't have in the US where you drive everywhere: Pedestrians. Especially children who may get confused by the siren and stumble int the road. And if you were medical personnel you probably wouldn't want someone's kid as a new hood ornament, now would you? In locations where there are no pedestrians, they are indeed booking it. Hard.
Even if you drive an emergency vehicle you still need to watch traffic and you can't just rush over an intersection, the drivers have to slow down a bit for that. And yes, if you have a patient in the back, you won't drive at full speed even if it's urgent. The patient and crew needs to still arrive at the hospital in one piece after all ^^'
I didnt See Just Minuten from the Video and have a opinion.
The German one is better. Because after a Ride you dont have to pay your House
im from germany and try 2 explane some things. first the fire fighter "bus" is realy a bus but the inner part is popletly rebuild for special things, like a mass car pileup or somthing other who manny peaople involved. the fast audi "notarzt" was a emergacy doctor who has a fast car 2 reach the acident faster. he only comst by realy serious accidents normaly, like a car crash on a country road as an example. this "notarzt" is also a real doctor and specialized for the hard accidents 2 help and stabilice so fast its possible
The city ambulance situation is crazy. To me the biggest difference in ambulances is that Murican ones are little hospital emergency rooms in themselves, we got tons of equipment in Germany in there too, but not as elaborate and high tech as Murican ambulances. Ours can save lives outside of Hospitals too, but yours are definitely better equipped. And i still love New York, even with the dog eat dog mentality.
10:16 ambulances in Germany drive fast to where they are needed (/obligated to be in less than 10 minutes) but significantly slower with a patient and possibly medical personnel working in the back.
but i guess the video is more about the types you can see and how much more uniformly ambulances in Germany are labeled.
Every emergency vehicle needs a ram shield on the front. Worldwide.
So they can make their own way through the traffic.
The Bus you saw is nit a fire truck, it is called Großraum Rettungswagdn(GRTW) and it is used if to many perplex get injured to get the people with more efectiveniss to the hospital.
James, sir, one of the reasons ALL those ambulance might drive careful, is, when you have a injured person in your car. If some of the EMT try to safe a life during driving, you can´t have a race.
And, to be honest here, Idiots are everywhere, regardless of nations. Most drivers know: It could be me inside.
You be safe man.
Elmar from Germany
In this particular situations they are slow, because there crossing intersections and have to be shire everybody sees them. The crash risk driving with signals is 8 times higher than driving normal. And those 12 vehicles in a row where’re driving in a convoy with a designated speed. A convoy counts as one vehicle and if they would go fast somebody will get lost or cars will push between. This convoys are driven by volunteers that work in the disaster control. And the whole convoy is a ambulance platoon or a supervision convoy. If your coming to Germany again and you will be some where around Frankfurt I can show you our vehicles because I’m volunteering at German Red Cross.
13:56
that's not an ambulance but an emergeny physician (?), we drive doctor's to the patients who might not make it to the hospital without intensive care and in some other cases too...
9:44 You got Mercedes too at 3:35
11:33 That is not our usual type of fire truck. I'm a bit surprised by this one too, tbh.
11:52 Of course there are turbos in there. That's not a generator!
11:32 Is not a Firetruck Its a Ambulance where more Patients can be Transported Mostly named in Germany GRTW // Großraumrettungswagen
18:36
that's easy to explain the Rettungsgasse is to be prepared without any emergency vehicle needing to be in sight or being heard. as long as traffick got to a crawl everyone has to move to the sides, but there always are some idiots not having gotten the memo as you can see with the one on the left.
as such you just drive on your lane while keeping the rescue lane free and thus you end up like that instead of hastily driving to the side vehicles.
I dont think he knows that in an ambulance, there is a lot of equipment or even patients in the back so they cant be zooming around like police vehicles
That's also why the sedans from the notarzt and trucks that just pulled out of the station are a lot quicker.
11:35 this bus is an ambulance and its called an "großraum rettungswagen" and it can carry more patients then a normal "rettungswagen" and when i first saw it i also couldnt belive that it really looks like a bus😂
(Edit) and as an german who wants to be a paramedic i enjoyed seing both american and german ambulances compared (=
9:56 This was filmed in my hometown Stralsund.