The following is the story that has been used in Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service EVOC classes. Firefireghter III/P Pat Dillon also has been giving lectures using the following testimonial as a guide. He and Chief Tom Carr attended and presented a workshop at the FRI2006 regarding this subject -aggressive driving. We believe this story to be very powerful.
Pat Dillon --
I am an aggressive driver! When I started driving I never had the intention of carrying my aggressive nature into my driving. I thought I would leave it for firefighting. As I started my career in the fire service I found that aggressive is better; from day one, every job was based on speed, and I have applied this attitude to everything including driving emergency vehicles. As I moved from a volunteer to a career firefighter I found myself developing a behavior which I was learning from my fellow peers. This behavior caused several events which ultimately lead me to a near fatal collision and rollover of an aerial tower. Before my crash, I had several signs that I was on the road to danger and a collision like this, but I never allowed any previous near-miss event to change my behavior. There were consequences, but even with disciplinary action, counseling and some remedial driver training my overall attitude never changed -- I wanted to get there quick, be first and get the job done!
I started my fire service as a volunteer and high school cadet. I was first a bucket head and worked my way up to the front seat. As a volunteer I never became a heavy apparatus driver because I enjoyed going in and never wanted to be stuck outside on a fire. The attitude around the fire house was always to be quick; be quick to the trucks, be quick to get dressed and most important be quick in getting to the call. I used to watch drivers drive the trucks as fast as they could, having near misses on almost every run. Back then, that was ok because a near miss meant you were a good driver. One driver in particular stands out in my mind. I remember from the time you left the station until you got to the call you feared for your life because he drove so fast. I'm not sure he even knew what the brake was, but he was considered the best. I did eventually become an EMT and then became an ambulance driver. I became a driver primarily because I eventually learned that I didn't necessarily enjoy being the "first aide" provider on the EMS unit and often could be less involved if I drove.
I was trained by the previous driver I mentioned. When I started driving on calls my goal was to get there first and fast; safety never mattered. I was always happy when someone was scared to ride with me. Luckily I never had a crash as a volunteer! I had many a near miss, but as I said every near miss meant that I was becoming a better driver. Or so I thought at the time!
Once I moved from a volunteer to a career firefighter my attitude stayed on course and actually grew worse as time went on. I was first assigned to a fire station with a lot of senior guys. I first found my self becoming calmer and more subdued due to their slow nature, but that did not last long. I found that depending on who was driving, we would often get beat to calls including ones in our first due area. I would get so mad and stressed out because we would take so long getting places and the lack of aggressiveness of my shift. Luckily we had a master who more then made up for it because he was old school and he drove the fire truck like a bat out of hell. He would come right up to their bumpers and push them through intersections, most of the time never really giving them opportunities to get out of the way. Driving through traffic, he would weave in and out and take the wrong lanes always pushing the truck and being a bully to other motorists. Luck or skill -- I gave him credit that he never crashed and we always got to the scene of the calls. So when it came time for me to become an engine driver he was my trainer. I tried to follow his driving behavior. The way it worked in our system like in most places is being a driver helps with the promotional process. You get promoted and you are compensated. For the most part, once I began driver training it was pretty much self taught. Now and then, I would get some help from an interested co-worker, but for the most part it was all me. This was evident and showed when I first went to get my drivers license and failed the pre-trip because I was not taught the right way to inspect the truck. It showed again when I went for my pumps test and failed because I was not prepared for situations that go wrong. Each time I failed I returned to the station, figured out what needed to be done to pass and corrected the problems on my own.
Once I jumped through all the hoops, I became a driver of both the engine and the ambulance. The bad thing was that I never got to drive either one very often because I was the low man on the totem pole. I did not get a lot of hands-on experience. When I did get to drive I thought I did a good job but I was also more restrained in my aggressive nature because I drove senior people. It seemed once I had two or more years on the job I started to slide back into the bull in the china shop attitude. It was this time in my driving career when I started to have collisions more frequently and set the course for destruction.
My first collision occurred when I was visiting another station to pick up supplies. I was driving our rookie on the ambulance. We pulled onto the front apron of the fire house. I was attempting to back the unit into the fire house when I struck the bucket of the aerial tower that was sitting out front. At the time I knew we were supposed to have a back up person but I did not think it was necessary since I knew where all my obstacles were. When I began to back up I saw the bumper of the tower and focused on that to line myself up. I was not thinking of the bucket that was hanging off the front. Next, all I remember was a crunch and I saw the tower move. I got out seeing I tore a big hole in the side of the ambulance. I would have had prevented this collision if I was not showing off for the rookie.
My second collision was also in an ambulance but this time we where going on a call. We were out on the air when they put us out for a car fire. I was excited because we were so close and I wanted to smoke in the engine company. So we went flying down the road when we came to a traffic light I squeezed in-between two cars and tore the mirror off of one of the cars. At the time I was not sure I had stuck the other car so we kept on going to the call, which turned out to be an overheated radiator. I tried to go back to the scene but no one was there because she was back at the station waiting for me with her broken mirror. I could have prevented this collision if first I was not so excited to go on a fire where all I could do was watch, and second if I had waited for the cars to move instead of pushing my way through.
At this time I changed stations and went to a slower house. I still drove fast and aggressively but it was only an issue twice. The first was a call where the master said I drove too fast and the second was going on a fire. I was lucky here not to have any collisions, but I did have an incident that still damaged the fire truck. It was New Years day and we were going to a multiple alarm fire. I was driving the engine when we took a turn at a high rate of speed and I laid out about 1200 feet of 4" hose. We were almost on the scene when Emergency Communications Center (ECC) asked if we had lost some hose. I said no we had not. Once on the scene of the fire I noticed all the hose was gone and one of the rear lights was damaged. Even though this was not a crash the sad part is I never knew I lost all of that hose because I was concentrating on the fire and driving fast and getting to the scene. If I had slowed down I never would have lost the hose and damaged the truck. Thank God I did not need the hose on the fire.
Once again I changed stations to my current assignment at a very busy house. Here is where I had most of my incidents and ultimately my near fatal crash. When I got to my new house I was most excited about becoming a tower driver. Unfortunately once again this was a self-taught task. I started my training on my own. I was given study material but the rest of the process was pushed by me. Unlike the engine check off I completed the tower check off without incident. Now I am at my new assignment with three major vehicles under my belt that I can drive. The opportunities to drive the engine or tower were few and far between, but I spent many hours behind the wheel of the ambulance. I went a while without any crashes or incidents but it was not long before they started to occur again. I think a lot of it had to do with becoming more comfortable with my new shift. The more familiar I became with the area and the shift, I found myself returning to my old ways of aggressive driving. Once again it also seemed to be the practice of my new shift to drive aggressively and be fast; once again close calls were just incidents that made you a better driver. I remember the shift sitting around from the chief down, talking and laughing about calls where they almost crashed or scared their partners or smoked someone into their first due, no one ever thinking that we are one close call away from catastrophe.
My next event again occurred while driving an ambulance but this time I was returning from a call. We were on a drill when they put out the call for a possible plane crash at the local airport. I remember flying to the call I could not believe the time we were making, but that did not matter because it was a false call. I was returning to the drill site and I guess my adrenalin was still up from driving fast that I had not returned to normal mode. I looked in my rear view mirror and realized there was a cop with his lights on, I stopped and thought, "Oh no I have a compartment open", but I was wrong. I was stopped because I was speeding and weaving in an out of traffic, basically I was stopped for reckless driving. For most people this would have been a huge wake up call about their driving but not for me! I looked at this as a good story I would tell for the rest of my career. I probably would have been best served if the cop gave me a ticket instead of extending professional courtesy and letting me off.
Another incident that occurred was not a crash but was again caused by aggressiveness. I was driving the engine and we ran a report of a building fire. We arrived first and the officer positioned me in the wrong area. As the crew dismounted I was left to reposition the engine to the front of the building. At this time I heard the other companies coming so instead of going out to the street and going around to get to the front of the building I choose to drive through the grass and jump a curb. Later in the incident I realized that I bottomed out the engine and damaged the side hose bed. I was so concerned about being beaten in that I did something I knew was wrong and again damaged equipment.
Once again I have yet another incident, this one again involving the ambulance. This time I was responding to two pedestrians struck and we were the second transport unit. It was heavy rush hour and we came to an intersection where traffic was grid locked because of the call we were going to. Once again, I was too impatient to wait for traffic to clear out so I squeezed up the shoulder. It was not my intent but I accidentally rode up onto a curb and when I came down I tore the side step of the unit almost rupturing the saddle tank. Even though it was not my intent I still could have avoided this from happing if I waited another 30 seconds for traffic to move. If I had ruptured the tank it would have taken the unit out of service and I would have done no good for anyone on the call.
My next event was a crash that once again involved backing and of course occurred because I had no back up person. I was at the fair when a call came in for someone unconscious. Again my excitement level went up and I wanted to tear out of there in front of all those people with lights flashing and sirens whaling. I ended up turning the unit around and backing up two feet and slamming into a parked car. Instead of being the hero, I was a laughing stock and embarrassed in front of all those people. Once again I let my attitude and emotions carry me away. I made another bad decision.
I finally come to the event that has put an end to my aggressive driving nature. Every event prior to this crash had no effect on me nor did it ever make me reconsider my driving. All my previous crashes and incidents were all property damage and were punished with nothing more the paper work or a temporary loss of my driving status. That would all change on a sunny summer day. I was assigned to drive the tower on this day; at this point in my career, driving this tower was the best part of my job. I was my happiest and had my most fun behind the wheel and operating the tower. Just like with all my driving, I have incidents where people have encouraged me to slow down and maybe not drive as aggressive when operating the tower. I unfortunately never listened. I drove the tower for what I thought was a lot, so I felt very comfortable pushing it to its limit. I never considered how big it was and I just did not respect it. I treated it more like a car than a truck. I also felt that when we were on calls I operated that tower better then any one else, again just swelling my head and confidence.
My shift on this day started like all others, we had run a few calls, and I had to do the monthly on the tower. I had spent the whole day cleaning and doing maintenance on tools when around dinner time we were put out for a house fire. The tower was the first unit out of the door and we led a parade of units to the call. On this day I was driving what I thought was not aggressive at all, because I actually did not want to go on the call; I wanted to finish the monthly maintenance routine. The road conditions were perfect and traffic was light. While I responded I got caught at a few lights having to stop for traffic but nothing major. I finally made it through a light which was right before an open stretch of road; once I was through I opened the tower up hitting its top speed of 65 mph. It was about a mile before I hit the next traffic light, and while we were moving there was a miscommunication between me and the unit officer on where to turn. I thought I had two more intersections to go through but in fact I was making a left at the intersection I was fast approaching. I had slowed to what I thought was safe enough speed to make the left turn and I had a green turn arrow and traffic was not a concern. As I came around I was looking up the street and thought I was doing fine, but the next thing I know the back lifted up and before I could blink the tower was on its side and we were sliding into a curb.
In the blink of an eye, I found myself hanging upside down. I was being held in place looking down on my officer who was looking up at me as he stood on the road below. I immediately realized he was ok then like a punch in the chest I imagined that I had probably killed the other firefighter riding on the rig. I began to yell as loud as I could for what seemed forever. I heard nothing and the more time that passed the more I imagined he was dead. I finally got free of the cab and climbed out onto the side of the tower and I discovered the other firefighter was in fact alive and well. Once down off of the truck I went and kneeled in a corner and I began to cry and I could not control it. I was transported to the hospital and released along with my crew all escaping with little or no injuries. What would follow was the hardest struggle I ever had endured in life. Even though I had killed no one I could not get over the fact that I had come so close to taking the life of two firefighters, two fathers but most important two friends.
This crash and this crash alone has changed my life like nothing ever will. A split second decision has opened my eyes to so much, unlike any previous event or crash. I realize that you need to respect whatever it is you are driving no matter how comfortable you are. No matter what the call is, it's not your emergency. You must always know where you are going. Communication between you and the officer is of utmost important, so you know you are both on the same page. Think of your task at hand which is driving safely to the scene. Do not think of the call until you get there. Above everything else, never ever put the life of your crew on the line because you are unable to control your aggressive nature. Stay in control -- the driver, and only the driver controls the vehicle in a safe and orderly manner.
