FDNY and one way streets
bitzao
::30 jul 2006 :: 06:41pm
if any of you reading this are familiar with bedford ave in williamsburg, brooklyn, you know that it is a one way street, pretty heavily traveled, and is one lane. so i'm walking south on bedford today, and a fire truck comes barreling down bedford ave. and you guessed it, they decide the smartest idea is to go the wrong way down a one way street. this of course wreaked havoc on traffic and was completely inefficient, seeing as most every other street in williamsburg is less traveled and MUCH easier to navigate a fire truck down. it is worth saying also that this was one of those 2 driver fire engines, with a driver steering the back end as well.
so this fire truck is driving down a one way street the wrong way, honking its horn, blowing its siren, and telling other cars to get out of the way. okay smart guys, where are these cars supposed to go? you are BLOCKING THEIR WAY!! certainly not the smartest thing i've ever seen the fire department do. i watch as the front driver yells at a lady in a car to drive forward when there is a ridiculously small gap between her car, the fire truck and the parked car on the street. he is impatient, yelling at her to hurry up, so frazzled by all this, she obliges and ends up scratching the parked car because this firefighter is forcing her to move her car in a space where it obviously doesn't fit.
i walk by the parked car after this has happened in front of me, and sure enough it is scratched. this really pissed me off, that these firefighters would be so idiotic to drive down a one way street like this. i could understand if it was the only option, but come on. williamsburg does not have that much traffic to begin with, and they decide to drive down the most heavily traveled street the wrong way? WTF?
What if they were responding to your home to recue your family that was trapped in the building. Im sure you have no idea the frustration of driving a large apparatur with flashing lights, a loud siren and airhorn and still have drivers stare at you while not moving like it was sunday afternoon. Consider the other side of the fence before you sit back and bitch.
And I think the point here is: if you're trying to get to a family trapped in a building as quickly as possible, perhaps taking the worst road in the wrong direction might not be the best way to go about it.
dumb ass hipster doofus lolligagging around in your own lil perfect world of ugly paintings and "vintage" clothes shut the hell up and don't speak about things that you know nothing about. As for williamsburg not having any traffic, how about the streets packed with double parked cars because people are too stupid and lazy to pull up ten feet and over to the curb, or how about the construction on just about every block with bulldozers and cranes aswell as the delivery trucks droppin off construction supplies, they dont block roads at all assface! So before you start flapping about things you see from your little cafe chair with you soy latte and your laptop stop and think that maybe these guys have been doing their jobs for sometime and might know a thing or two about responding to emergencies. You lil yuppy whinny hipster implants need to show some respect and get the hell out of the way when any emergency vehicle come your way. Lets see you complain when you fall asleep with your cigarette in your mouth and a needle in your arm. Leave your address with them and tell them to obey all traffic rules when responding to your ungreatful ass because it pisses u off.
bitzao, shut the hell up, you stupid asshole. Ever stop to think that maybe that was the best road to go down. Maybe they were going to risk there life for someone elses but thats not important to you. Whats important to you is that the car got scratched and who's going to fix it. You are probably one of those yuppie freaks that roam all over williamsburg dressed in rags. Know how the FDNY respond and what they respond to before you bitch…Go hug a tree, freak.
yours truely
the guy driving the back of that apparatus
i'm amused because these flames:
1. assume all sorts of things about bitzao, while yelling at him for assuming things about the fire truck drivers
2. because the argument presented in said flames are 'mind your own business'. bitzao's post was in line with ray's comment — perhaps the optimal route, in this case, was not used. and resulted in damage that could have been avoided. driving a firetruck is not a license to do anything.
would like to know where these comments are popping up from though.
comment from real brooklyn ppl not implant hipsters that turn the streets of williamsburg into a resort for the wierd.
By "wierd" do you mean "weird" or "wired"? Just curious if you were accusing someone you don't know of being a freak or just caffeinated.
On a secondary note, Tripp, your recent post appears to be truly spot on: NYC sounds like a great city, where everyone has a great appreciation for the our Constitution's allowance for freedom of speech, people tolerate constructive criticism, and by no means is anyone overly tense or over-reactive.
Sniping aside, I do have lots of respect for those in public service, both in fire departments and police departments. It says something amazing about this country that anywhere, anytime, a person can call for help and get it. You cannot get paid enough to do either of those jobs (see also: teaching) while ballplayers get paid millions a year. That's just not right.
if it was me or my family they were responding to, i would hope that the person driving the emergency vehicle would have enough sense to travel roads correctly in order to arrive quickly and efficiently. the very fact that they did this i'm sure added extra travel time. and to be honest, i dont even remember if their lights were flashing or the siren was on. this is what was so odd about the whole thing.
i could really care less about the lady's car being scratched. i know the streets of williamsburg, and bedford is the most heavily traveled. if they wanted to get there quicklyt, they could have chosen driggs, berry, kent, or wythe. even if they were going the wrong way down those streets, they at least would have had more room and it would have been faster.
i'm curious to know where you live gir affe. for someone who seems to really hate hipsters, you sure do know an awful lot about them and wiliamsburg. you sound very bitter. are you upset because someone made fun of your bandana around your neck?
godcd, i don't care about the ladies car being scratched. the situation was that they had to get somewhere quickly, and instead created a huge obstacle for themselves while making it extremely difficult for others to get out of their way.