Armoured Menace

A few days ago, a friend of mine asked me if there is any traffic law written about emergency vehicles being allowed to break certain traffic rules.  Asking him further, he mentioned specifics like driving above the regulated speed limit, and parking in areas with “No Parking Anytime” signs, and driving against the flow of  traffic.  I pointed out Republic Act 4136, or the "Land Transportation and Traffic Code."

Regarding his question about driving above the regulated speed limit, I told him about Chapter IV, Article 1, Section 35C of RA 4136.  In that section is a list of situations which allows certain emergency vehicles to go beyond the regulated speed limit.  I must admit though, I actually let out a bit of a laugh as I have yet to see any emergency response driver with the skills to outrun our local petrolheads.

For his query regarding parking, I pointed out that as long as they are responding to an emergency or conducting lawful operations like security checkpoints within the vicinity of a traffic sign, emergency vehicles may park in such areas.  But if they park within the vicinity of a No Stopping or No Parking Anytime sign just to have a meal or to buy a lotto ticket, that is illegal.  They have no business breaking the law.

As for driving against the flow of  traffic, emergency vehicles are not necessarily immune to traffic laws and drive on the opposite side of the road.  Chapter IV, Article V, Section 49 (Right of way for police and other emergency vehicles) states that “upon the approach of  any police or fire department vehicle, or of an ambulance giving audible signal, the driver of every other vehicle shall immediately drive the same to a position as near as possible and parallel to the right hand edge or curb of the highway, clear of any intersection of highways, and shall stop and remain in such position, unless otherwise directed by a peace officer, until such vehicle shall have passed.”  In short, as the Lotus F1 Team put it, “get out of their effing way!”

At this point my friend asks me, “does that include armoured money vans?”  I wasn’t able to answer him right away as I had to dig deep into all available resources and see if there was any provision created specifically for these rent-a-wanna be-cop vans.  After days and days of research, I found out that these armored road bullies are nowhere classified as emergency vehicles.  This means, they cannot force their way through traffic with hazard lights on and honking their horns like they’re at a noise barrage. 

But why do they act like such?  Well, first of all you must understand that being a blue cop they couldn’t quite make it to the academy and are compensating for their being not-really-a-cop.  They must’ve come from the next door academy thinking that their proximity to the real cop academy makes them cops by affiliation.  You can’t blame them.  They get to wear a uniform just like real cops.  They get to hold guns like real cops.  And they tend to be feared by little children when they disobey their parents in the mall.

At no point at all are armoured vans to be treated or respected as emergency vehicles for they are not classified as such.  The reckless demeanour with which they bully other vehicles and disobey traffic laws make them more of a menace than anything else.  They may claim that they are transporting important cargo and have full authority to break traffic laws. But as obvious as the absence of emergency lights are on top of their vehicles, their only authority is to tell you, “Sir, No ID, No Entry!”