deaf ?

...and blind?
Deaf would explain not hearing the fire siren, but not the waiting 13 seconds after the light changed! This seemed intentional.

yeah maybe. i dunno, i've seen people just freeze like a deer in the headlights whenever something unusual happens on the road.

Literally last night we pulled up as an accident had occurred ahead of us, and for the next five minutes the number of people who blasted past a line of stopped cars all with their hazards on and full headlight beams illuminating the crash site and so on, was staggering. Last minute they'd realize that yes, there's a car blocking one lane and facing the wrong way all smashed to bits and yes, there's glass and oil on the road. One after anouther they'd slam on the brakes, almost hit it, then almost get rear ended.

People drive with total tunnel vision i think. It's kinda scary how little awareness some people have. On the other hand maybe they're an asshole. hard to say.

From what I understand, the self driving cars will do exactly this. They will not, under any circumstances, knowingly go against traffic signals. Then when they recognize the firetruck behind them, they will wait until it passes.

You have just come up with a possible reason for this video, that's a test car.

I hope that's wrong, or that they fix that before they're commonplace. They should be able to pull slowly to the curb at least, if not turn right on red to get out of the way. Stopping dead in the middle of the lane will NOT work in emergency situations.

It is wrong.

Self driving cars are being programmed to get out of the way of emergency vehicles and break the speed limit or other minor traffic infringements where they judge it is safe to do so in order to get out of the way. Still plenty of work to be done, but this kind of obstinance is still better explained as human assholery.

I always thought Germany had fantastic driver licensing requirements. Guess it's not universal, or maybe it's a tourist. Another really strange thing is the way everyone starts driving past it at the end. Shrug.

Un-freaking believable.

I'll see if it's still on the memory card, but last night my drivecam caught this sort of thing happening in front of me. An undercover police SUV had to jump the curb halfway down a block because 3 cars came to a stop in both lanes, and refused to move. He couldn't go oncoming as there was traffic and a fairly high divider.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'firetruck, car, block, stop' to 'firetruck, car, block, stop, feuerwehr, germany' - edited by xxovercastxx

Nope, got overwritten. Wasn't particularly interesting. Just topical.

Fucking.

Dick.

If i was in a nearby car, i might possibly be moved to road rage. I'd have been out and yelling at him to move. People could be fucking dying.

Does everyone think this person just didn't give a fuck and intentionally held up the firetruck out of malice? Personally i can only imagine it was done due to not knowing better or deer in headlights. I assume they thought the best appropriate action was to not move.

...or maybe they were rocking out at some ungodly level. Although that truck is pretty frickin loud.

Also out of curiosity does anyone know if there is a law that states you can break traffic laws to get out of the way of emergency vehicles or do we just do it cos its the right thing to do.

I wonder what would happen if the firetruck just nudged him out of the way?

Personally, I think that would have been justified.

I do hope it wasn't that driver's house on fire.

You are required to do whatever you safely can if you find yourself blocking the emergency vehicle.

In this case, moving 10 feet forward and to the curb would have been sufficient.

...and yes, this person was most likely clueless rather than arrogant.

Although it certainly looks real, isn't it a bit odd that someone would just happen to film this at all, and yet also somehow perfectly frame the shot so the fire engine and green car are both visible at all times (though that could be a result of all the post-processing)? Also, the green car stops way behind the line which can only be a deliberate attempt to block the fire engine.

Headphones on loud while looking down as they fiddled with phone.

While living in HK, I saw so many occurrences where people just would not get out of the way of ambulances and fire trucks. Cars and pedestrians. There may not be a requirement to move, but in some cases it was sheer inconsiderate selfishness (200+ people crossing a road on red walk signal, ambo waiting about 1.5 minutes)

That isn't a tourist, that's a german license plate on the car. What this guy does is obviously intentional. There is no way he couldn't notice the big fucking red firetruck with lights and sirens going. Also, that's not a panic reaction either, that is pure assholery right there. It goes against every normal, responsible, civilised driving-behaviour.
If I were behind the steering wheel of that truck, I would've forced him out of the way. With my big ass truck.