Ambulance drivers to protest over threat of penalty points in emergency calls

AMBULANCE drivers, angered at the prospect of having their personal driving licenses endorsed for alleged traffic violations, are to protest at Government buildings next month.

Ambulance and fire personnel in Dublin respond to 465 emergency calls a day making an annual total of 170,000.

However, the drivers are claiming the failure of Transport Minister Séamus Brennan to address an anomaly in the Road Traffic Acts means emergency personnel including gardaí and firefighters can pick up points on their licences even if responding to life and death situations.

SIPTU's Dublin Health Services branch secretary Paul Bell called for a special licensing system for emergency workers saying unless something was done emergency workers could be put off the road.

Mr Bell said automatic speeding cameras were often catching emergency vehicles speeding, resulting in an automatic fine being issued which then often took months to have cancelled.

"According to Government standards, ambulance drivers are expected to respond to emergency calls within eight minutes of a call being placed with ambulance control," Mr Bell said.

"But just imagine the obstacles they have to work around on our streets Luas works, telecommunications works and numerous local authority projects, all slowing down and in some cases halting traffic altogether.

"Apart from the Luas, the situation is no different throughout the country, with various infrastructural projects ongoing in all our major towns and cities," Mr Bell said.

A spokesman for Mr Brennan said there was no question of an emergency worker being punished for a traffic offence if on duty and that such situations could be clarified by an emergency chief sending an explanatory letter to the department.

"What they're looking for is an exemption from dangerous driving which is something that cannot happen," the spokesman said.