Police cars, ambulances and firetrucks have figured in numerous road accidents, many of them fatal, because they have to be driven fast most of the time. When lives hang in the balance, every minute counts for those behind the wheel of such emergency vehicles.

Most motorists have no problem ceding the right of way to approaching emergency vehicles. Still, the latter’s drivers should be reminded that while traffic regulations may be waived for them during emergencies, the laws of physics are never forgiving of anyone, every time.

What laws of science are those? That no two objects moving at great speed can occupy the same space without catastrophic consequences, especially when there’s a mismatch in terms of mass.

Go ahead, imagine a firetruck and a small hatchback colliding at an intersection. Not a fine picture, is it? More like stomach churning.

Responding to a fire, chasing after robbers, or rushing a patient to the hospital are emergencies that, however, should not equate to emergency response drivers having the right to put the lives of others on the road in danger.

How many accidents involving emergency vehicles barreling their way through busy streets have resulted in preventable deaths, loss of limbs, or lives being shattered? Way too many, whether in the Philippines or elsewhere.

Just last week, a female food delivery rider met an untimely end in Manila when she swerved her motorcycle to the left to overtake a jeepney that had come to a stop. She was sideswiped by a firetruck that was maybe running too fast for such a narrow road.

In the United States, the National Safety Council revealed in a study last year that in 2021, 198 people died in crashes involving emergency vehicles. Of the number, 56 percent were occupants of non-emergency vehicles, 25 percent were pedestrians, 15 percent were drivers of emergency vehicles, and 3 percent were the latter’s passengers.

Maybe because it’s America where high-speed chases — like mass shootings — are regular occurrences, crashes involving police vehicles accounted for most of the deaths (135), followed by ambulances (39) and firetrucks (24).

Special mention was made of the fact that when it comes to ambulances, the risk of a crash goes up when their drivers use sirens and blinkers. Without turning on such devices, the crash rate for ambulances was 4.6 per 100,000 responses, and 5.5 when lights and sirens were used.

As expected, the increase in risks is greater when ambulances are transporting patients: 7.0 per 100,000 transports without lights and sirens; and 16.5 when blinkers and sirens are used throughout the transport.

Back on our side of the ocean, there’s that long unresolved problem of ambulances being misused like for carrying commuters and vacationers or, maybe, contraband (that’s not hard to imagine) since rarely are they flagged by traffic enforcers for violations or routine checks.

The other day, the Department of Transportation said it would crack down on ambulances, warning of multiple charges to be filed against individuals using them in non-emergency situations.

Not another crackdown for violation of Presidential Decree 98 prohibiting the misuse or unauthorized use of emergency sirens and blinkers?! We had seen too many of the same, but ningas cogon has always prevailed in the end.

Even that proposed legislation (Senate Bill 2344) against the misuse of ambulances was toothless as it would have merely penalized erring drivers with suspension or removal from work.

We know of lawyers being ambulance chasers, but who would go chasing after errant ambulance drivers?