Dear Editor
While driving home, I watched as an ambulance, with both the siren blasting and lights flashing, was forced to make an unnecessarily, prolonged stop at a Richmond intersection because three vehicles, sequentially, made left-hand turns when all other vehicles were already respectfully stopped.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. When there is an emergency, every second counts. As a son who has elderly parents, I appreciate the need for emergency personnel to serve with minimal interruptions. As a community, we need to better our ability to support emergency personnel as they serve our neighbours, friends and love ones.
I hope the new city council will explore the possibility of working with first responders to introduce regular emergency vehicle evasion drills. After all, practice makes perfect. This recommendation could be cheap and effective, if implemented properly.
Furthermore, as we learned about how the wild fire has devastated California, I hope the new council will learn from the lessons of 2018 and upgrade our city’s emergency response team as soon as possible. The city needs to hire a sufficient number of police officers and fire fighters and allow all personnel to receive the much needed skill training. Our city’s investment in emergency response teams can mean the difference between tragedy and family reunification after disaster strikes.
Henry Yao
RICHMOND
