this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2025
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Fuck Cars

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Not to defend our shitty car-centric society but most places in the US aren't so bad. I would guess that New York in particular presents more challenges for smooth ambulance traffic than almost anywhere else in the country due to its high traffic density and relatively narrow roads and streets. People likely want to move and can't. Excluding bicycle issues, Americans are pretty good about observing traffic laws and knowing when to give way. (but yes, to a German person, American drivers probably seem like troglodytes)

[–] [email protected] 39 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (3 children)

That's fair, but this issue is solved in European cities, via mass transit lowering the number of cars on the road, ambulances being built smaller to fit down narrow passages, and wide bike lanes which ambulances use in emergencies. If anything, NY might be one of the cities most poised to implement all these, if it can just get its shit together.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 weeks ago

I believe this video is from before the congestion pricing in NYC. I wonder if and how much it has improved since.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago

Haha I like what you did there at the end

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago

Not only that, in many places there are dedicated bus, and taxi (and sometimes tram) lanes which can also be used by emergency services.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 weeks ago

Yep. Traffic gets the hell out of the way and stops immediately if there are emergency vehicles trying to get through where I live, even in the city.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago

Not to defend our shitty car-centric society but most places in the US aren’t so bad.

+1. I've never seen this problem in Chicago. Most people pull over and stop until the ambulance has passed.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 3 weeks ago

Audio: Whoever needed it, they're dead.
Subtitle: Whoever needed it, they're okay.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

That's why nobody drives in New York. Too much traffic.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

They're paraphrasing a Yogi Berra joke.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

I knew it from Futurama, but you learn something new every day!

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I looked it up, and the Rettungsgasse isn't a thing in Germany on city streets, only on highways (Autobahnen) and roads between settlements (Außerortsstraßen). (TIL it's a thing in Germany on roads between settlements because here in Austria it is only a thing on highways.)

There's still an obligation to move out of the way for emergency vehicles, but there are situations where that simply isn't possible. There are sometimes dense urban traffic situations similar to the one in the video in Germany too.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

You simply move out of the way. Nothing more to it.

I've never seen a siren stuck in traffic in my life here in Belgium

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago

Same here. I'm German. I mean, yeah, maybe for a few seconds or something. Until people fucking moved out of the way.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago

Neither have I in America.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Ah, so it is because of bikes! /s

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

Easy Douggie!!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah those pesky cyclist blocking the road ahead!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Now I want a kinky bicycle. I just have a straight one.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 weeks ago

Kinky and straight aren't mutual exclusive 😏

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago

For anyone wondering, the Rettungsgasse ("rescue aisle") is something we do on longer stretches of road whenever congestion happens, to allow ambulances to pass through as quickly as possible. Everyone on the right side of the road keeps to the right and everyone on the left keeps to the left, forming a roughly ambulance-sized gap in the middle. On multi-lane roads, it's formed to the right of the left-most lane.

There's also laws for it. You can get fined, if you hold up the ambulance, because you failed to form the Rettungsgasse, or if you have the audacity to drive down the Rettungsgasse to try to skip a traffic jam.

It's not really a thing in cities like shown in the video, as we'd typically try to drive into side roads or onto parking spaces or the sidewalk to make room for the ambulance. The laws don't apply there either.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago

NYC needs to ban cars

No cars on the island at least

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

This is because Americans are garbage people

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago

Never send paramedics to do a German cyclist’s job!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago

alt source? catbox won't load for me and many others.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago

In my experience this, and running red lights, is more of an American phenomena than one inherent to cars

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

This is something of a new development in my experience. When I first started driving, people would actually move over to allow emergency vehicles to pass. But since COVID, it's just gotten ridiculous. Absolutely nobody pulls the fuck over anymore.

I am also pretty sure it's still against the law to not make way for emergency vehicles.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

This guy is smug as fuck... is he really equating heavy traffic in NYC to all of America?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

yes. kind refreshing to see that it isn't just american influencers that make emotionally charged and shitty content.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

There are many things to criticize the US for, but this guy is just an asshole. There is literally nowhere for those drivers to move aside to.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Yes there is: lots of gaps and the sidewalk is also available. The outer vehicles can move to the sidewalk and make way for the inner vehicles. There was plenty of space to shuffle vehicles around. Plenty!

You think there is no traffic congestions on German streets?

Besides, in Germany we form a gap in advance before we even hear an ambulance. An ambulacen can usually rush through a traffic jam at speeds of like 50kmh or more.

It's beyond me why this isn't a thing everywhere.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

New York City already decided it is ok for let people get murdered in plain daylight for no reason, there is an immense, mountain moving amount of wealth in NYC and yet there is destitute homeless everywhere on the streets struggling to survive.

The fact that wealthy people who live in NYC aren't ashamed that they live in one of the most powerful cities on earth and yet it still fails to take care of its poorest citizens in an even remotely humane way tells you everything you need to know about who has control of NYC.

This is just an another expression of it.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

This is a bunch of BS. Have you ever even been to the city?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

yes, ok, I edited my post, I am not saying everyone living in NYC is trash, I am not trying to dunk on the people, ughh I did this recently with LA lol, I am talking about the city, not the people living in the city, the city and its politics and the limitations imposed by the rich on what can and can't happen and how much useless delaying action the rich can deploy to forestall what the majority of a clearly pretty vibrant place desires.

All this being said, to a degree yes I am insulting NYC for becoming more conservative in a lot of ways over the last couple of years (I will absolutely shit on NYC for all of the neoliberal fearmongering around the subway being full of crime and pouring funding into policing people for not paying $0.73 fares, yes, it is embarrassing and NYC should be embarassed), of course you can't make any great generalizations about 10 million people, but it is a trend in east coast/northeast culture I have observed and yes I do think NYC typifies it while still wanting to pretend it is the liberal center of the free world.

shrugs

I have been to NYC many times, I know a decent amount of people that live there and will always consider it home. There is a reason I don't visit more lol, besides the fact that I always go broke (even though the food is awesome no doubt).

[–] [email protected] -5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Nobody moves says man showing video with car behind him literally moving out of the way. What an asshole.

Edit: no no don't trust the evidence of your eyes trust the Narrative of the video.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago

Don't be so fragile.