Down from the 6th Concession I came, driving eastbound on Brock, this week. I slowed into the new 50 kilometre-per-hour zone. Then, I spotted him. A pickup heading the opposite direction with a green light flashing clearly on his dashboard. I pulled to the curb right away.
Then, a white SUV whizzed past me into the centre of Brock Street in a big hurry to make a left turn north onto Quaker Village Drive. An awkward moment followed, as the firefighter dodged the SUV. Finally, he passed en route to the firehall. I pulled up beside the SUV, still sitting in the left-turn lane. I honked my horn. She rolled her window down.
“You know that’s a firefighter trying to get to the hall, don’t you?”
“Yes, yes, yes,” she said dismissively. “I’m well aware,” and off she sped into her left-hand turn, visibly ticked off at my scolding.
This frightening – I think offensive and illegal – practice happens far too often along the busy streets of our town. Drivers either have no knowledge of the significance of the flashing green light on the firefighter’s dash, or they have such inflated attitudes of self-importance that they ignore the need to give firefighters full access to the road in an emergency.
Whichever it is, shame on those egotistical drivers. And shame on the rest of us – township legislators, enforcement officers, and citizens of communities dependent on volunteer firefighters – for not recognizing and supporting the need for firefighters’ right-of-way on our roads.
I’m afraid incidents such as this woman’s apparent disregard for either written or understood rules of the road, happen far too often. If they’re not contravention of Ministry of Transportation laws, they should be. And particularly in Uxbridge, where emergency response – as evidenced vividly by critical first response in the tornado just over two years ago – can literally mean the difference between life and death.
I’m showing my age, I guess, but I can remember times in elementary school (I grew up in the village of Agincourt, not yet a part of Scarborough) when firefighters and police officers regularly visited our classrooms to teach us road safety and fire safety. Remember “Elmer the Safety Elephant”? I do.
Back in the 1950s, school kids learned about safety in homes, on the road, at playgrounds, on bicycles, around railways and in the event of fire. As I recall, flying the Elmer flag outside our school for every day no child was injured in any of those situations, became a school-wide badge of pride. By the way, in the first year of those visits, in Toronto, traffic accidents involving children dropped by nearly 50 per cent.
Almost as often, firefighters arrived in our classes with Dalmatians – canine mascots – to show us basic fire prevention and response skills. It was a foolproof method of getting kids comfortably introduced to the hazards of fire and the importance of response (keeping matches away from our younger sibling and planning escape routes from our burning homes).
No, not all the mascots were named “Sparky,” but somehow having a Dalmatian running around the classroom was the source of great amusement for us students and got everybody’s attention.
By the way, do you know why Dalmatian dogs are so often integrated into firefighting brigades? It may just be legend, but according to the fire and rescue service in Windsor, Ont., in the era of stagecoaches (the 1800s) in Ontario, Dalmatians regularly slept among the horses for protection against thieves.
“When the dogs became close to a stage team, they developed a tight bond with the horses,” American canine historian Esmeralda Treen wrote, “and no stranger would dare lay a hand on them.”
In a couple of days, local firefighters will unveil a unique tribute to the 150-year-history of firefighting in Uxbridge Township. Following a parade to the firehall at 1:30 on Saturday (Oct. 5) afternoon, the Uxbridge Fire Department will officially inaugurate a memorial statue, created by sculptor Tyler Briley.
The Port Perry artist and former firefighter has worked for several years to depict a life-sized contemporary firefighter in full gear, but with pieces of equipment around him that date back over the century and a half of first response to fire in our community. The sculpture and memorial garden in front of the hall will commemorate the service and sacrifice of women and men who’ve fought fires and continue to save lives in all kinds of emergency situations.
If I had my way, everyone caught ignoring a firefighter’s green flashing right-of-way dashboard light, should complete mandatory community service learning the legacy of first response in Ontario. That way, we’d all be truly “well aware.”