Some drivers pull over but don’t slow down. Others just ignore the flashing lights and blaring siren.

Few know the frustration they create for paramedics at the wheel of a city ambulance rushing to a critical accident or transporting a dying patient to the hospital.

A Star-Advertiser ambulance ride-along this week showed the hazards created by drivers who don’t move over or who dart ahead, slam the brakes, tailgate and otherwise engage in dangerous driving habits as Emergency Medical Services personnel try to help the critically ill or seriously injured.

"We still see people texting on cellphones and eating," said Emergency Medical Services paramedic Laura Kumamoto. "A lot of times they’re just completely unaware that we’re behind them, and once they notice, then they stop right then and there." Drivers should "just slow down and pull off to the side."

When an ambulance or other emergency vehicle using sirens and lights is approaching, state law requires drivers to yield the right of way, immediately drive to a position clear of any intersection and get as close as possible to the right shoulder or curb. If there are multiple lanes, if the highway is divided or if it is a one-way street, drivers should move to the nearest shoulder or curb.

The new "move-over law," which took effect in July, requires drivers approaching an emergency vehicle with flashing lights that has stopped to slow down and move over by at least one lane, leaving a lane between the driver and the emergency vehicle.

This week, paramedics based out of the Wailupe Fire Stationdrove their rig on Kalanianaole Highway, wove through H-1 freeway traffic, plowed through crowded Waikiki streets and maneuvered the steep and narrow route of Sierra Drive.

Invariably, a few drivers failed to move over until the ambulance was nearly on their tail. Add them up on a single trip, and those cars can slow an ambulance by several lifesaving minutes.

The ride-along experience provided a snapshot of two problems: motorists driving badly due to inattention, not knowing what to do or deliberate noncompliance; and people calling 911 for nonemergencies. Both hinder paramedics and ambulances from rapidly getting to patients facing imminent life-threatening injuries and medical conditions.

The 40th National Emergency Medical Services Week begins Sunday, with cities and states across the U.S. honoring EMS personnel. Honolulu got its first paramedics in 1971, and today EMS boasts 233 field personnel, 20 ambulances and two rapid-response units (sport utility vehicles) islandwide.

During an emergency call Wednesday afternoon, Kalanianaole Highway traffic parted like the Red Sea as Kumamoto, the Wailupe supervisor, let the siren wail. But some drivers seemed to ignore the ambulance, racing ahead.

Some drivers, "pull over, but they won’t slow down," Kumamoto said. "We have to tell them, ‘Stop! Stop!’ because we have to take the cutoff. At least once a week if not more often, we are literally pointing, ‘I got to go there. You need to stop!’"

One car cut across the ambulance’s path at a Kaimuki intersection, taking the freeway onramp ahead of the ambulance, which had an 86-year-old patient on board who had fainted and was running a fever.

"I don’t know if they’re trying to outrun us," said paramedic Teresa Allen, Kumamoto’s partner, who took her turn at the wheel.

Others rode on the ambulance’s coattails.

"We still get a lot of tailgating," Kumamoto said. "They cannot see what we see. If we need to step on the brakes, they’re tailgating so close they will hit us," coming "very close — screeching behind us."

The 2012 move-over law requires drivers to stay a lane away from a standing emergency vehicle when possible and safe to do so, and to slow to a reasonable and prudent speed that’s safe under the emergency road situation ahead.

But medics say they don’t think the public is aware of the law, which is why they usually don’t exit through the ambulance’s side door when stopped on a roadway for fear a passing car will strike.

"If we’re parked on the side of the road, slow down," Kumamoto said.

Another problem is drivers who think they need to pull over onto the right shoulder; they come from the left and "shoot across" the path of the ambulance to pull over to the shoulder, Kumamoto said.

The ride-along experience also showed that sometimes the emergency is really a nonemergency.

EMS estimated last year that the top 50 people who contacted 911 made 1,600 calls. Of those individuals, 70 percent have chronic medical issues, which could lead to emergencies if untreated. About a third are homeless and a third have a mental illness.

Kumamoto, Allen and newly minted emergency medical technician Lee Lenchenko responded to a call in Waikiki at a Kuhio Avenue coffee shop.

A 19-year-old man, legs sandy and his shorts still wet from surfing, complained of a mosquito bite on his neck and a sore throat.

The man said he hadn’t been taking his antibiotics, and insisted on the $800 ambulance ride because he didn’t have bus fare to see his doctor.

The paramedics checked him thoroughly and found his blood pressure and lungs were fine.

"There are other people who need our services who are having heart attacks," Kumamoto told him. "You’re abusing the ambulance. You don’t have bus money?"

Allen said, "We’ve been getting a lot of young, homeless people.

When asked why they call an ambulance, "a lot of people give us the answer: ‘I no need pay,’" she said.

EMS District Chief Colin Wong said, "We have our regulars."

Paramedic Branden Ige, acting supervisor for Charlie 1, which covers Chinatown, Salt Lake and Kalihi, estimated in his area, "95 percent of our job" is responding to nonemergencies, and "5 to 10 percent are the rare critical calls, pedestrians, MVCs (motor vehicle collisions), the real traumatic events."

"We get a lot of Micronesians, a lot of homeless in IHS (Institute for Human Services), Aala and public housing," he said.

The Micronesians "are very sick," with high blood pressure, diabetes and heart failure, he said. "Some are flown over specifically to get medical care and within a week from when they arrive they’re calling because they’re so sick."

Many homeless live in tents or at the overcrowded IHS, or suffer from alcohol abuse, psychiatric behavioral disorders and drug addiction, Ige said. "A lot of them simply want a meal and a nice bed to sleep in."

"We take them here but it is a temporary fix," Ige said. "If they don’t get 24-hour care or the care they need because they can’t afford it, it’s an endless cycle."