Associate Professor, Dr Michael Eburn (PhD), publishes additional information relating to Section 128 of the Rural Fires Act on his Australian Emergency Law blog.
RFS Response to Volunteer’s Conviction for Fatal Traffic Accident
Associate Professor, Dr Michael Eburn (PhD), provides advice on his Australian Emergency Law blog.
1. A service such as the RFS should have a clear policy of when ‘response’ driving is permitted. It should be when a faster response is likely to significantly improve the outcome and is it necessary to save life, property or the environment. That will require consideration of the nature of the call, time of day, traffic environment etc. It may be appropriate for a first responder to a triple zero call to respond under lights and sirens, but once the service is ‘on scene’ the incident controller needs to consider whether an ‘urgent’ response will make a significant difference to the outcome.
2. The faster response must be necessary, not merely convenient.
3. When the criteria to justify response driving is not met, drivers must drive in accordance with the Australian Road Rules as adopted in your state/territory.
4. The fundamental obligation on all drivers is not to crash. Crashing an emergency service vehicle creates another emergency, delays the response to the first event and causes more trauma. People may die in floods, fires and other events but more people die in car accidents. Drivers should be reminded that no matter what they are responding to, the most important objective is not to crash.
Use of U-Turn Facilities and Cross-Overs
Service members are directed that crossover points or emergency U-turn bays on motorways or highways are not to be used. This applies to incident responses and normal traffic conditions, and even where a cross-over point is marked for use by emergency services.
NSW RFS vehicles should travel to the next exit ramp or point on the motorway and re-enter the roadway.
The only exceptions to this should be where a road is closed or operating under controlled conditions, such as traffic is being directed by police.
What are your thoughts on this?
Philip Donato has our vote
On Saturday November 12th, the By-Election for the state seat of Orange will take place. The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party are putting up a great candidate for the seat or Orange, Phillip Donato.
The VFFA is getting behind Phillip Donato and we hope that others will follow.