ambulance caused accident but..

[bisto]

What is the name of your state? Delaware.

Can ambulances in Delaware drive without siners during daylight hours and not be held liable for an accident "if they had their lights on"?

thanks.

 

[SPR]

I am pretty sure that ambulance laws are the same everywhere. I instruct the EVOC classes here in Pa and can tell you that any time an ambulance has their lights on, their sirens must be on also. Now, that's not to say that there are times when people don't use them, like in the middle of the night or if they are driving slowly to look for addresses.

What is the circumstance? Operators of the ambulance must stop at stop signs and red lights to make sure that the intersection or road is clear, then they can procede. If they come to a red light or stop sign and it is clear to procede and someone suddenly goes through the light, it is then the other driver's fault. All traffic must yeild to emergency vehicles. I have been to court over this several times and it is pretty clearly written about this.

Can you tell us what happened?

 

[bisto]

My friend who was hit by the ambulance states that her car was moving into the intersection to turn left when struck by the ambulance from the left. The ambulance failed to yeild at the red light and did not have their sirens on, but apparantly had their lights on. An issue was that the ambulance was a miltiary ambulance - are laws different for military vehicles? The official police report stated no one was at fault and the driver of the vehicle that was hit was a member of the military, and was told they could not file a claim against the military. When my friend, who is not military personel, attempted to file suit to cover lost wages/work etc. the attorney that she consulted told her, after months, that the ambulance was only required to have lights on, not both. This is during daylight hours - at approximately 2pm.
This happened around 3 years ago. The issue is that my friend has pain in her shoulder/back and elbow which resulted from this accident. At the time of the accident her insurance took care of what was required, but now she has a different insurance company and this was a pre-existing condition that they will not cover.
What are her rights and is there a statute of limitations regarding filing a new suit in order to cover costs for needed meidcal expenses.

 

[SPR]

Are you near the military base in Delaware? I don't know why the military ambluance, driving in civilian areas when we are not at war, would not have to abide by the same laws as civilian laws.

As far as I know, any emergency vehicle must use both lights and sirens to be exempt from the traffic laws.

I know several medics in the military, but all of them are over seas at the moment, so I can't ask them.