EDITORIAL - Another death by ambulance

Barely two weeks after an ambulance rushing a patient to the hospital hit a motorcycle head-on in Cebu City resulting in the death of 18-year-old Mechanical Engineering student Braille Nichole Kwek and the injury of her classmate Juan Antonio Ladioray, another accident involving a motorcycle and an ambulance has occurred.

It happened last Thursday, April 30, in Argao town, where a 16-year-old motorcycle rider was injured while his passenger, Jovee Emia Lomocso, 29, was killed in a head-on crash with an ambulance belonging to the local government unit of Samboan town along the national highway in Barangay Langtad.

The circumstances are eerily similar; the ambulance, carrying passengers needing to be rushed to the hospital, counter-flowed into the lane of the other vehicle and caused the fatal collision. The motorcycle rider survives but the passenger is killed.

Like with that incident in Cebu City, we say that ambulance drivers should take extra care. Even though they have the right of way and should be given priority when taking passengers to the hospital, they should also be wary because they aren’t the only vehicles on the road.

In particular, they should be on the lookout for motorcycles, which are smaller in profile.

In response to the Cebu City incident, Mandaue City has approved a resolution mandating that the personnel of ambulances and other emergency vehicles undergo seminars and refresher training on public and road safety.

Mandaue City Resolution No. 397-2026 wants to instill in ambulance drivers the utmost care in operating their vehicles while avoiding reckless behavior like counter-flowing, particularly on flyovers.

While this may come too late for the fatality in the Argao incident, we think other local government units around the province should follow suit and have their ambulance drivers take similar refresher courses.

It’s not that we think such drivers are naturally reckless; it would just be a good idea to remind them that there are still rules to be followed

This is the second time last month that someone driving an ambulance caused a fatal accident. That’s two too much if you ask us. It’s a tragedy when someone who is supposed to save a life takes one instead; let’s not have similar incidents happen again.