Ambulance death sounds siren on drivers making way (4)

"Some drivers would purposely slow down ahead of me if I signaled them to move to other lanes," Zhang complained.

"The ultimate victims, however, are the public themselves," according to Wang. "Who can be sure that they won't be taken to hospital by an ambulance someday?"

Others have questioned whether Beijing's terrible traffic congestion is mainly to blame for drivers failing to make way for emergency vehicles.

Wang said this was partly true surrounding the Friday tragedy, which happened on a street that was badly clogged.

"Even so, we usually have some other choices, such as driving on bicycle lanes, which is allowable for ambulances," Wang said. "However, many cars were parked on bicycle lanes that night, making it impossible for us to proceed."

"It is hard to say this really reflects on the lack of social ethics among the public, but I do hope that people won't park their cars in emergency lanes, or in case of emergency, people could move aside a little so that our ambulances can get through," she added. "People need to have more knowledge about ambulances and their use of sirens. We don't use sirens much, but if we do, it is in urgent situation."