On Wednesday (26 June), the SG Road Vigilante – SGRV Facebook page posted a video of an incident involving a pet ambulance and a car along the East Coast Parkway (ECP) expressway.
The pet ambulance was spotted driving on the right-most lane behind another vehicle, seemingly signalling to the driver in front to give way.
The owner of the pet dog in the ambulance has slammed the driver for refusing to give way during an emergency.
Some netizens have argued that the pet ambulance should not be categorised as an emergency vehicle, while others stated the car should have given way regardless.
According to SGRV, the incident occurred on Tuesday (25 June) along the ECP.
The clip showed the car driving in front of an emergency animal vehicle from Royal Animal Rescue (RAR) in the far right-most lane of the expressway.
In an attempt to signal to the driver to give way, the RAR ambulance allegedly flashed its headlights and tailgated the vehicle.
However, the car, reportedly a BMW, refused to move into another lane and continued to drive in front of the emergency vehicle.
Source: SG Road Vigilante – SGRV on Facebook
The ambulance was reportedly carrying a sick dog, which was in respiratory distress and “with oxygen”, to a 24-hour emergency vet hospital when the incident occurred.
The owner of the dog, who filmed the video, was furious with the driver’s “ridiculous actions” and emphasised the importance of animal lives.
“This driver still did not give way after a few more horns, it is because it’s not a human ambulance? Animals are also living things,” the caption read.
The BMW driver also allegedly decided to brake check the ambulance, causing the ambulance to emergency brake, slowing it down further.
After watching the video, some Facebook commenters called out the car driver for their “petty” behaviour.
However, others questioned whether the pet ambulance could be considered an emergency vehicle.
Source: Facebook
Overall, despite the possible emergency, many argued that there are no specific laws requiring motorists to give way to pet ambulances.
Source: Facebook
In response to a query from MS News, RAR spokesperson CPT Benjamin Burke explained that the pet emergency service is under the purview of The Animal & Veterinary Service (AVS) and not the Ministry of Health (MOH). He added that there are currently no regulations or restrictions regarding pet ambulances.
“RAR will be converting our ambulance in the next few weeks with an improved medical system,” he said.
The ambulance in question was dispatching a “P1 patient”, in a life-threatening emergency.
“We understand that legally they do not require to give way,” he said, adding that most vehicles normally give way when they see their ambulance lights blinking, so the pet owner was “understandably frustrated” when the BMW would not give way.
“Since we were responding to an emergency case, every second matters. It doesn’t matter if it is a human emergency or an animal emergency, at RAR, we believe that every life matters.”
After around 3-5 minutes, the BMW finally gave way to the ambulance.
However, the dog passed away a few hours later.
Also read: Car refuses to give way to ambulance along CTE despite sirens & high beams
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Featured image adapted from SG Road Vigilante – SGRV on Facebook.
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