골든타임을 지기키 위한 소방차 길 터주기 훈련 전국적으로 시행
For this year's civil defense training day, the South Korean Fire Agency has run a nationwide drill on the streets.
This is to raise awareness of the importance of yielding to emergency vehicles.
Won Jung-hwan reports.
"It's the law as well as basic driving etiquette that drivers must pull over to let fire trucks through,… and pedestrians shouldn't cross the road until the emergency vehicles have passed."
But there have been cases reported where drivers and other obstacles have interfered with firefighters responding to emergencies.
In an attempt to raise public awareness and prevent such incidents in the future,… a nationwide drill to make way for emergency vehicles took place on Wednesday afternoon.
The drill saw 2-hundred-19 fire departments across South Korea send fire engines to 4-hundred-53 locations, with routes including congested roads and other areas with difficult entry points,... where the sound of sirens from emergency vehicles should lead to other vehicles moving out of the way.
Firefighters say the addition of the program to the country's civil defense training gives them the rare chance to actually do training operations on congested city streets.
"It is rare to actually train in the city center where it is congested like here. That is why we need to ask people to move out of the way just like in a real situation,... to actually save people if tragic incidents ever happen."
Drivers who refuse to give way to fire trucks will have to change their ways, as one of the approved revisions last June has raised the maximum fine for such actions from 180 U.S. dollars to some 1-thousand-800 dollars.
"It is true that the fines have been strengthened. We also have a strong rule that if a fire truck is ever blocked by an obstacle, that obstacle will be destroyed. All because saving lives is what comes first"
The strengthened laws will ensure firefighters can perform their duties without fear of criminal prosecution or having to pay compensation,... so they can concentrate on doing their job,... saving people's lives.
Won Jung-hwan, Arirang News.
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