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this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2024
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If it’s an emergency an ambulance will drive an alternate route because they have contingency plans in place for blocked highways like with major car accidents or infrastructure failure. Protesters will let an ambulance through.
The point isn’t to sympathize with the blockers. It’s to raise awareness on an issue and let lawmakers and people with power know that their cause is worth causing a disruption for. The more a protest disrupts the status quo, the harder power will try to quash it before budging. Change doesn’t come from being quiet and invisible like by standing on a sidewalk with some signs.
Sure. Because an ambulance can totally divert to an alternative way when it's already on the bridge. And if it's not on the bridge already, then the "alternative way" is the "already too late" way. That's why there is a bridge there in the first place.
Are you familiar with the Bay Area by chance? The Golden Gate Bridge isn’t the only bridge nor are the hospitals in downtown SF the only accessible options. An ambulance is going to take you to the nearest emergency room that will meet your needs. On the north side of the bridge, there’s the entire Marin Health system. Across 580 you have the Berkeley, Oakland, and Alameda hospital centers. In the rare event that an ambulance is on the bridge prior to being aware there is a protest blocking traffic, odds are the protesters will let the ambulance through.
This round of protests was cleared out pretty quickly anyways. The November protest delayed an organ transplant by a few hours but did not put the patient in a life-threatening scenario per USCF Medical. Anything more urgent in the rare case a diversion isn’t possible and would require some sort of transportation across the bridge would use a helicopter, even during rush hour traffic.
I get your concerns about people’s lives being put in jeopardy are probably very real. Honestly, if I didn’t have experience working with local government and health districts that helped me understand what goes on during a protest blocking a major avenue, I’d likely be just as upset as you. However, dispatchers are trained and ready to work in a variety of tough scenarios, and protests blocking Golden Gate is absolutely one of them. Dispatch finds out about blockages faster than the public does, so guarantee they were already changing routes before the story even broke.
Insightful comment. Thank you.
I still gotta add, though: just because ambulances are trained to deal with protest blockades, doesn't justify said blockades. Like a cop is trained to deal with thieves that shoot at them, we don't say "ok! Violent burglary attempts may continue to happen, then." So yeah, good to know that ambulances have an alternative, but that doesn't mean I'm okay with these blockades all of a sudden. Plus not everyone wanting to cross that bridge (or road, or whatever) has a good contingency plan.