New Mexico Drivers Not Pulling Over

July 18--If you are driving and see an emergency vehicle flashing its lights, pull to the right. That's the law.

But emergency service personnel in Carlsbad and Eddy County say many motorists are not following the law and that, they say, hampers and slows their response time to the scene of an accident or fire.

Roy Burkham, emergency medical technician and assistant chief of the Malaga Volunteer Fire Department, said oilfield traffic in the county is heavy and he is seeing more drivers refuse to pull over when they see the flashing emergency vehicle lights coming behind them.

"These truckers don't slow down on county roads. They expect you to go around them. A lot of these roads are narrow and you can't pass. They are supposed to pull over to the right," Burkham said.

He said when drivers don't pull over, they are not only ignoring a law that is in place to save lives, they may be contributing to delaying emergency care.

He vented his frustration after responding to an accident on Monday.

"The unbelievable accident that occurred at mile marker 18 on U.S. 285 could have had the first EMT on scene approximately 45 to 60 seconds earlier," Burkham said. "With the accident that occurred, and the probability of someone dying in such an accident, one minute could have been enough to keep someone alive if they had been in a critical condition."

Burkham said from the minute his pager activated, he had a mental picture in his mind of the scene and what needed to be done when he arrived. Burkham said Duarte Road has no room for two vehicles without both getting off the paved portion and driving in deep pot holes.

Burkham said in the case of grass fires, tank battery fires or fires that are not endangering life, fire department members do not get as irritated when the public does not yield.

"If it was them or their family (needing help) they would be cussing us for being so slow," Burkham said. "It's frustrating."

He said one answer to the problem for emergency responders would be placing dash cameras in all of the fire department trucks, ambulances and rescue vehicles.

"We would be able to turn the video tape over to law enforcement, which will show the license plate and, most of the time, the business that owns the vehicle," he said.

Burkham's frustration is also felt by city emergency responders.

Inside the city limits, it's also a problem, said Carlsbad Fire Chief Rick Lopez.

"They (drivers) don't pull over. More importantly, when they do, they try to pull to the left instead of the right. We prefer drivers to pull over to the right; that way, everyone is on the same page. We are going to pass on the left," he said.

In the past two years, Canal Street, the city's major thoroughfare, has become congested with traffic because of the oil and gas boom, slowing down emergency vehicles.

Lopez said the traffic problem has been further compounded on Canal Street with a partial closure of San Jose Boulevard, which is under reconstruction.

He acknowledges that in bumper-to-bumper traffic, there is no place for drivers to pull over.

"The traffic is terrible, but that's part of the growing pains as Carlsbad continues to grow," Lopez said. "It's hard to get through when we are running with our emergency red lights on, especially on Canal Street where you have the medians."

Lopez said when drivers find themselves in a situation on a city street where they can't pull over to the right to let emergency vehicles by, his message to them is: "Don't panic. Keep moving forward until you can get to the right."

Eddy County Sheriff Scott London said the law states clearly that drivers must pull over to the right when emergency vehicles are approaching, though enforcing it is not practical.

"It's one of those irritating things," he said. "We would love to stop and issue the ticket, but when you are heading to the scene of an accident, you can't stop. I don't think there is a solution to the problem."

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