Why Have People Stopped Yielding To Emergency Vehicles In Mays Landing, NJ?

Someone recently posted to a locally-based Mays Landing Facebook group that she's been experiencing a lot of people failing to pull over when emergency vehicles are approaching. Judging from the comments, she's not alone. She's not the only one who has experienced someone they're sharing the road with not yielding to a first responder.

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First of all, that is extremely irresponsible. Most people always pull over when they see an ambulance, police car, or fire truck approaching with their sirens blaring. With everybody else pulling over and you trying to speed up in an effort to avoid them, that's just plain dangerous.

Secondly, it's disrespectful. Emergency vehicles are carrying people inside them that have an important job to do, not to mention that they may have to save somebody's life once arriving at their destination. So, why is it so hard to yield to them?

Personally, I think technology could be playing a part in this issue. If someone has their earbuds in while driving, they wouldn't hear the sirens approaching. So, while they're not deliberately remaining in the way of the emergency vehicle, they're still not obeying New Jersey's rules of the road, albeit not on purpose.

So, what can be done about it? Well, that remains to be seen. If these instances keep happening simply because people don't care, that's a much bigger issue than someone just ignorant of vehicles' presence in the first place.

Practice mindful driving. Don't use headphones while driving, and PLEASE pay attention to what's happening around you while you're in the driver's seat. You wouldn't want first responders to be delayed if YOU needed them, so don't be the cause of it for someone else.

Source: Facebook