Every Sunday, “Back in the Day” looks at an article that ran on this date in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The items are verbatim, so don’t blame us today for yesteryear’s bad grammar.
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The Hawaii State Board of Health has joined the City administration and the Honolulu Police Department in an effort to alleviate the problems of speeding ambulances.
At a board meeting yesterday afternoon, members passed a resolution requesting that State and County authorities give serious consideration to the following recommendations:
1 — Ambulances should be required to obey all traffic rules and regulations at all times.
2 — Traffic rules and regulations should be strictly enforced, especially as they concern the operation of ambulances; fines and other penalties should be stringently imposed on ambulance drivers who disregard traffic regulations.
3 — The use of sirens and red lights on ambulances should be allowed only in cases of emergency, as determined by a physician.
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SURGEONS CONDEMN AMBULANCE SPEEDING
A resolution "vigorously and positively" condemning excessive speeding by ambulances to or from the scene of an accident was adopted Wednesday by the American College of Surgeon’s Hawaii Chapter.
The unanimous action was taken by 62 surgeons at the mid-year scientific meeting of the group.
"No emergency speeding has ever been proved to save a life, but on the contrary has contributed to and actually caused injuries and even death to innocent people," states the resolution.
"Local surgeons have been struggling with the increasing casualty problem contributed to by the failure of local authorities to regulate needless and excessive speed of ambulances," said Dr. F. J. Pinkerton, secretary of the group.
The surgeons also petitioned authorities to remove sirens and other noise-making devices from ambulances, which they contend cause undue excitement.
They suggest a soft-toned warning bell be substituted.
