Police Are Real Ambulance Chasers
Dear editor,
I am very distressed after reading that Korean police are slapping fines on speeding ambulances. The ambulance drivers already have enough problems trying to navigate their way through uncooperative traffic that refuses to yield so why must the police make the job of savings lives even more difficult?
The police should focus their attention on reckless, lawbreaking drivers and not on emergency services that are trying to save lives ― every second counts. For example, hospitals measure success in treating a heart attack when the patient is admitted.
The longer the patient is kept from treatment, the greater the loss of muscle and permanent heart damage. Doctors use the phrase ``time is muscle'' and if ambulance drivers have to worry about fines, potential loss of their job, slowing down or being stopped by the police then how can they save lives?
Furthermore, the police are being petty in demanding that ambulances prove they have a patient inside the vehicle to warrant speeding. Perhaps the ambulances should be made of glass so that the police can just see for themselves and that idea is just as ridiculous as the police fining emergency services.
In my opinion, there are many other traffic violators that the police should concentrate on instead of going after institutions and organizations that save lives. What if one of their family members was in a speeding ambulance would they want that ambulance driver to slow down?
Rebecca Butterworth
Seoul