Give way to this ambulance or your vehicle will shake

For three years, Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) paramedic Yeo Ren Jie visited ambulance trade shows around the world to find out how these vehicles were designed by other emergency services. The 27-year old Staff Sergeant (SSG) - who visited them while on holiday in the United States, Germany and Australia - took the best ideas and put them into SCDF's next generation ambulance, which was unveiled yesterday at the SCDF workplan seminar at ITE College East, reported The Straits Times. 

Also unveiled at the workplan seminar were other new SCDF vehicles, as well as a restructured community preparation programme to combat the terror threat.

The ambulance has a suite of new features, including a hydraulic platform with air suspension to cushion shocks for patients with spinal injuries, and a seamless interior that can be quickly decontaminated. It is also equipped with a rumbler siren. This emits low frequency sound waves that can penetrate vehicles in front of the ambulance and cause them to vibrate slightly. The SCDF hopes this will prompt drivers to give way.

The idea for the rumbler siren came from U.S.A highway patrol cars, said SSG Yeo, adding that it will prove useful as cars become increasingly insulated and soundproof. Ideas for other features, such as high mobility seat belts which keep paramedics secure even while they attend to a casualty, came from flight paramedics.