JOHOR BAHRU, MALAYSIA — Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) Is looking for more information regarding recent incident involving a Singapore-registered Mercedes for allegedly failing to give way to an ambulance.
Raub Selamat, District Police Chief Assistant Commissioner for South Johor Bahru, told Harian Metro that police yet to receive any report lodged against the matter.
“No individual has made a police report yet. Anyone with information can come forward so that the investigation can be carried out,” Raub Selamat urged.
It is believed that the incident took place at 4.37 pm on 6 December, on the road heading towards the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) Sultan Iskandar Building (BSI) Complex.
A vehicle’s dashboard camera recording was uploaded to Facebook, showing the ambulance with its lights and sirens on, trying to overtake a Mercedes A180 with a Singapore license plate and entering the right lane.
Refusing to give way, the Mercedes continued to inch forward despite the ambulance already halfway into the lane, both vehicles ended up getting very close to each other.
It is not known if they scratched each other, but the ambulance driver did raise a hand out of the window later, giving a clear signal before the Mercedes finally gave way to the ambulance.
While some netizens commented that private vehicles should always make way for emergency vehicles, some others also pointed out that the ambulance did enter the lane aggressively, and the Mercedes driver might not even realise the intention of the ambulance.
According to Rule 9 of the Malaysia Road Traffic Rules 1959, emergency vehicles on duty have the right of way over all other traffic, while Rule 9(2) stated that public vehicles must make way by going as close as possible to the sides of the road and stopping to let emergency vehicles pass.
