Sadly, "We are like this only."

Why does no one, well almost no one, let an ambulance pass first? I've seen too many instances of too many people, casually going at their own sweet pace when an ambulance right behind them is desperately blaring its siren. Are people really so callous that they don't care about the poor soul in the ambulance fighting for his or her life? Do they ever stop to think that one day it could be them or their family in the ambulance, and it could be their life at risk because someone in a vehicle decided their life wasn't worth saving?

Once, in one of the 'gullies' of Mumbai, an ambulance was blaring its siren about 3 cars behind us. My husband pulled over to the side to let it pass, and at least 5 other cars took that opportunity to overtake us AND the ambulance. They probably thought we were idiots to have pulled over.

The "problem" with us I guess is that we spent some time in the US where all cars on any road would stop as soon as they heard a siren. The signals there are tied to the paramedics center or something, and they automatically go on the blink to let everyone know that they should stop. But, its not just at the signals, even in the bylanes everyone will slow down or stop to let an emergency vehicle pass. Maybe that's because it is the law there. But, will it work if we had a similar law here? Somehow, I don't really think so.