Darryl Anderson was drunk behind the wheel of his Audi SUV, had his accelerator pressed to the floor and was barreling toward a car ahead of him when he snapped a photo of his speedometer. The picture showed a car in the foreground, a collision warning light on his dashboard and a speed of 141 mph (227 kph).
An instant later, he slammed into the car in the photo. The driver, Shalorna Warner, was not seriously injured but her 8-month-old son and her sister were killed instantly, authorities said. Evidence showed Anderson never braked.
Anderson, 38, was sentenced Tuesday to 17 years in prison for the May 31 crash in northern England that killed little Zackary Blades and Karlene Warner. Anderson pleaded guilty last week in Durham Crown Court to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
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I would have called an ambulance because they have sirens to get through traffic and go fast, and can start treatment as soon as they arrive, plus you can give emergency aid yourself until they arrive, instead of driving.
However, I acknowledge that my local paramedics are closer than my nearest hospital, and traffic is a greater factor than distance in Los Angeles. It might pan out differently on empty roads in the middle of nowhere.
I also know from my spouse’s several life-and-death medical crises that it’s hard to stay calm. Which argues against driving but explains the choice. I’ve run into a Code Blue and taken over, because I knew my spouse’s very specific needs were being missed. I would never do anything like that normally, but I did bring him back, so yeah, you do what you need to do.
I’m glad your wife is okay, and you didn’t crash into anyone.
When I was dying from a rattlesnake bite we were told to drive, in a life or death situation like this the ambulance takes too long.
I’ve called for an ambulance twice in the UK and both times they told me I should drive instead.
Sometimes that’s because, while you’re in need of an emergency room, you have the time and ability to drive or be driven there. A broken bone, for instance. Or excessive bleeding from a miscarriage. And having a 3rd person to help in the back seat can make driving a more viable option. Driving yourself while likely to become unconscious is not advisable.
Oh I just saw this again and realized, you needed antivenin for a snakebite, so the EMTs would have been pretty useless. Definitely a drive to hospital situation, that.
In my case the hospital on the local military base (which I have access to) was likely to be faster to access than the paramedics, it was one of those cases like you mentioned where sometimes we can be faster than an ambulance. I did not have traffic to contend with due to the time of day there were only a handful of other people on the roads. Glad you were able to help your spouse too, they’re lucky to have you!
You make a reasonable point then torpedo any potential for upvotes in that last sentence.
Fair enough, fortunately upvotes don’t pay my rent or I’d have to find a bridge to live under. It’s just frustrating to do deal with people who can’t imagine that others might have different needs than their own and insist everyone fits into their quick and easily defined box.
She could be dead if a cop had pulled you over.
If the cops are reasonable they would initiate an escort.
Given they’re reasonable that is.
The time it takes to determine its a legitmate emergency and not someone making excuses could still have exceeded the emergency response time of an ambulance.
I’m sorry to hear that ambulances don’t exist in your town.
I was faster than an ambulance as I could take her to a closer hospital than the one they’d be coming from and I could leave immediately, no need for a phone conversation first. Sometimes ambulances are quicker but in some cases like mine, they wouldn’t be.
Ambulance could take 30 minutes to get to your house. But even if you imagine a magic ambulance that gets there in 5, that’s 5 extra minutes a person is potentially not breathing.
Do your ambulances not come with paramedics? They can start treatment as soon as they arrive so no extra time. Also the ambulance has sirens that should allow it to get to you faster then you’d take recklessly speeding to the hospital.
Neither of those concerns are alleviated by him driving her.