[alphamike_1612]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

I feel, the drivers are just as big a problem as the ambulances (rather, choice of vehicle for an ambulance) themselves. Let us not patronise them.

What does it take to be an ambulance, or for that matter, any emergency services vehicle, driver in India? Is there any mandatory training? Unlikely.

Ambulance pilots as they're referred to, are trained for this job. EMRI is one such training institute, which also runs the famed 108 Ambulance network in TN and other states.

Agreed that the government indeed has a long way to go in regularising the private sector, but many of these drivers are also trained, especially those driving for corporate hospitals. (Strictly from my knowledge of coming across Ambulance pilots in a Tier 1 Government Medical College Hospital)

Originally Posted by attinder

There is no point endangering the lives of many while trying to save one. Speed limits must be followed.

I wonder if we would say the same when it is our loved one who's inside and needs to reach within the golden hour.

Yes, this is an unfortunate incident. Yes, the driver could have reduced speed when approaching the toll plaza.
Yes, the vehicle could have had ESP.

There is a lot to learn from this incident, but holding the driver guilty is not one of them.

Using this as a point of learning to improve driver training and regularisation of the private sector would be the best that can be made out of this incident in my opinion.

Originally Posted by locusjag

Driving emergency vehicles is inherently risky.

And those doing it willingly every single day deserve respect and better monetary compensation.

Imagine being one of these pilots who couldn't save a patient, imagine the mental turmoil he/she is in.

Originally Posted by mindshack

What we need here is more empathy from other drivers and better civic sense. And also back to point one - better trained ambulance drivers.

This is the need of the hour! I have seen as many well dressed / fancy car drivers as I have regular run of the mill people who rush behind ambulances, not creating a clear path when there is place to do so and such.

[Tanmay_868]

Originally Posted by A777R

I think safety features such as 6-8 airbags, speed limiters, ABS, ESP etc should be made mandatory for all ambulances and old ones should be retired.

Well all this should happen. But we should also factor in the cost involved.
Currently the cheapest ambulance on sale in India is EECO that too starts at 7.05 lakhs ex showroom Delhi (which would easily translate to 8lakh+ on road). When we wanted one in March there were no discounts offered and also no price reduction was offered even though GST has reduced from 28% to 12%. And IIRC TATA Winger cost 16 lakhs+ ex showroom
Further most of our patients can’t even afford the minimal ambulance charges we charge. So increasing ambulance charges from patient side is not an viable option.
Thus I think the ambulances are fine as they are. But the drivers should be trained that too at a regular basis. Because we have observed that even our finest drivers turn into worst drivers when they are assigned ambulance duties even just for a month.

[Lokesh Soni]

I think along with the ambulance, the ecosystem should also be better. One of the main reasons why these accidents happen is because good hospitals are not always available nearby, making the ambulances to cover distances faster.
But yes, since this a no-compromise thing, even ambulances should be much more safer, I think ideally both passive (eg. airbags, chassis structure, etc) and active (e.g. ADAS, telematics, etc) should be top notch.
Things like good chassis will lead to a stable vehicle, while ADAS can help with radar in foggy/night scenarios, telematics can help in populating patients condition on cloud for much better coordination.

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

In the above video, I feel there is more than what meets the eye.

I think it is the slippery surface + cement surface because of which the ambulance lost its traction as it was already near the limit.

[gururajrv]

No matter how safer the ambulances get, it won’t be 100% until the infrastructure makes way for ambulance-only roads which is unlikely considering the size of the country, mindset of politicians, people and almost everything or atleast priority lanes made for emergency serving vehicles such as this.

[bravo82in]

This is the data from Force motors website, Patient ambulance type B. An ambulance costing upwards of 15 lacs and ABS with EBD is optional?
To the best of my knowledge not just force motors every commercial vehicle sold in India lacks the basic safety equipment. Except for seat belts, there is absolutely nothing, no airbags, no ABS, no EBD to name a few.

Every vehicle segment wise must have some safety standards. Air bags, ABS with EBD, Corner Stability Control, Rear parking sensors, Seatbelt Pretensioners, Speed sensing door lock, Impact Sensing Door Unlock, should be mandatory in every vehicle. When done at mass scale, the cost won’t be much of a problem.
When government is pushing for safety (read 6 airbag rule) for passanger car, it must not ignore the commercial segment. After all masses who use public transport need safety too.

[GeeTee TSI]

Looking at the footage it looks like the driver missed to spot the toll plaza until it was too late (did it aquaplane?)

I hope the learning from incident gets cascaded to the ambulance drivers' community, especially how to tackle a restricted width lane of a toll both. One cannot hope to aim the vehicle at cruising speeds through the narrow toll lane even if the emergency lane is kept open (neither is the ambulance running on tracks to thunder past with such accuracy), it's just preference over others without having to wait.

The ambulance drivers would benefit if professional training was imparted than rely on providence to complete trips. On a related note, I also feel the general traffic does not know how to react in unison to the siren of an emergency vehicle

[Rodo_Faita]

From the internet, AIS-125 standard drafted by the automotive research association of India for constructional and functional requirements of ambulances.

The committee members shared their experiences as regards the Indian reality and deliberated on the reasons behind the pathetic condition of ambulances as on date.

The following important points were highlighted during these discussions:

• There is no standardization of ambulance design across various procurements in the country and the industry is forced to re-integrate their vehicles every now and then.
  
• Most of the ambulance specifications are written by medical specialists who are unable to translate the user requirements in automobile terminology thereby resulting in a huge gap between the user expectations and industry deliverability.
  
• There are certain inherent limitations in the existing laws which allow goods vehicles to be converted as ambulances for passenger application without incorporating essential safety features in patient compartment like side door, forward backward seating, occupant restraints, certified electrical systems, etc.

Link: http://www.nisc.gov.in/PDF/AIS_125.pdf

[Osteon206]

I saw this particular ambulance parked at the Baindoor toll plaza yesterday. The front end was wrapped with a tarpaulin sheet. The rear half of the left side of the winger had taken maximum impact the entire panel has flexed inward and the rear doors were broken completely. As for the toll plaza, there was not much visible damage. But after watching that particular footage and similar footages of trucks running into toll plazas out of control, I make it to pass through the 1st or 2nd lane (right most) of the toll plaza despite the queue being longer. I especially stay well away from the exempted lane and oversize vehicle lane. Some toll plazas have the dedicated fastag lane (made earlier which looks slightly different), I avoid that as well unless I'm in a hurry for some emergency - I've noticed that state run buses usually take that lane.

[Aravind_M92]

Finally there's some addressal on this! I always wondered how majority of ambulances around the world had tiny tires with tall bodies making the centre of gravity higher, affecting their agility to maneuver at high speeds quite tough and rough for the passengers!
I do believe EV ambulances would give a better ride as the heavy battery pack would lower the centre of gravity and increase the stability and instant torque to sprint through.

In Tamil Nadu, almost all ambulances are modified Force Travellers. I've seen them struggle to take a corner at higher speeds. (GTO we should have a seperate retro thread for the 2.6 liter diesel mill in those force travellers). Plus those tiny wheels and higher centre of gravity are recipe for poor handling at high speeds

[Raghu M]

While ambulances sometime need to be super fast to save lives, they cannot take any in the process. The guy just drove it insanely, period. I am sure he is also aware of what the machine offers, so a driver has no right to take lives while trying to save one.

A little off topic but I feel whoever has designed toll booths in India is an idiot of the best class. Can't you have a priority passage at one side of the booth? It's simple common sense. Let's imagine the above booth had heavy rush that day, what would end up happening could be scary to say the least. Keep a priority path open and ensure that is reserved for ambulances, ERTs, fire engines and of course our VIPs (can't avoid them using it). The good point here is, the toll plaza guys had prior information of the passage of the ambulance which is good but why do you have so many barricades there? Is that a police check point? You already have those unbelievable speed breakers that ensure even a fighter jet can't avoid.

[man_and_machine]

No amount of active/passive system can help when you are doing 60+, in a constructed lane and you need to avoid a cow. In this case, especially, would the result be any different if you were in a 5+ rating SUV? maybe be 50%. Vehicle safety is just one part of the many things that goes into making the travel safe. Tool booths are constrained spaces, like parking lots.
You need to be aware of how to drive there. Why would you want to cross this constricted space at that speed? Similarly if this were on a narrow bridge and you had a dog or cow would the result be any different? Even an unnoticed medium pothole in that place can be deadly at those speeds.
While the ambulance needs a sense or urgency, that does not translate only to speed. There (is one?) needs to be better training for the drivers of emergency services, since they will be driving at relatively constant higher than average speed of the surrounding vehicles on the same road.
This is not to blame that specific ill fated driver of that vehicle, but a general observation.
Better vehicles, better road management all add upto too. Its really unfortunate what happened and it pains so much to see this on camera, like happening. We just need to up our view on safety on all fronts to prevent these in the future.

[d.j]

I too will give more emphasis on the human part of it, observe these drivers on the road, lot of them are very young and it’s easy to spot their recklessness driving behavior, at least on few of them if not all. Now answering what vehicles to be permitted as ambulance or roads or for that matter counting the smallest of other variables, we will be like seeing into another kind of problem, nor going to agencies those who certify all type of drivers going to help, the whole system is too crowded.

Why not educate or make these/such drivers aware of what their vehicles are good/bad, capable of. They wouldn’t know at all, what is ABS/ESP, the owner of the hospital is least bothered, he/she wants to have lowest price tag van, literally no one to spend resources or money on them. Why not or can we as a community try and change some things around us, may be call on few NGO’s, or people those who are already in this field, talk our idea of making roads safe.

There are hundreds of superman’s around us in this forum, it may be worth the cause for us to try if not entirely lean to solve the problem. Sorry if for being off topic, if!

Regards/DJ

[Aditya]

Force Motors has sent in a email with a clarification:

We would like you to rectify the below-highlighted statement from an article that recently came out where there was a mention that “Force Motors Ambulances are inherently body on frame design” (please find the screenshot attached below). We would like to inform you that all our Traveller range, including (Ambulances, Monobus, Delivery Vans, Traveller School Bus, Traveller Utility & Cash Vans) are all Monocoque in construction. Given that the statement is incorrect, we humbly request that you retract your statements regarding Force Motors Ambulance in the blog below.

[luvDriving]

I can narrate my own experience as a patient being transported in an ambulance.

When I had my heart attack, I was first admitted to the nearest hospital. There they decided that since the attack was severe, I needed to be shifted to a bigger hospital. So a cardiac ambulance was summoned.

Now the distance from the smaller hospital to the bigger one is about 6km. I was not secured to the stretcher and the driver was going at full speed. Then whenever a speed breaker appeared, he used to stop abruptly and then speed over the breaker ! It was a very scary ride with me thinking that maybe I will die of the numerous jerks and tossing around instead of the heart attack.

Now granted that the driver had to get me quickly to the hospital while navigating the morning traffic in Pune, it was not at all the smooth ride that I was expecting.