No emergency rescues for injured drivers in Halifax

No emergency rescues for injured drivers in Halifax

written by Daniel J Towsey

January 7^th 2012

I assure you this is not fiction and is very true.

Please read on to discover the importance of this information. It can affect anyone of us at any time.

Yes, if you find yourself disabled in your broken down vehicle and especially if your vehicle ended up in a collision, stuck in mud,

went off the path or any number of events.

You are now disabled, you can not help your self.

You can not get out of your disabled vehicle and even if you were able to make a cell phone call.

You discover that there is no trained emergency response teams that can be sent to save you.

Again, please read on. This is not fiction and it is very real and true.

No help was available and not one officials in your city were ever trained in emergency rescues of the type you needed..

As horrible as this sounds. This is not fiction.

This is very real and is exactly the situation in the City of Halifax and the whole of the Province of Nova Scotia in Canada.

Part of the reason you ended up in this mishap is due to the absolute lack of any regulations pertaining to the vehicle you were driving.

Yes I mean there is absolutely no laws, rules regulations or anything else pertaining to maintenance, safety or any other regulations pertaining to the vehicle you were driving.

Manufacturers were and are permitted to sell any vehicle made any way they want with to quality assurances of mechanical fitness or safety fitness.

This unregulated situation is often the cause and reason for the difficulties these drivers in Halifax Nova Scotia find themselves in.

To make things worse. The surfaces you drive on are not properly constructed or maintained, which is a huge safety hazard.

Yes this sounds like I am describing a third world country and not any place in Canada.

I am not pulling your leg, please read on.

This is very important and has been permitted to continue because people are refusing to accept that anything I have just said is even possible.

So there you sit in shock and terror when you realize that no one at the other end of the phone knows what to do.

You could be stuck in a snow bank and your vehicle has stopped moving. You are freezing.

Possibly you got stuck because your vehicle manufacturer has made a vehicle that no one makes snow tires for.

Now your thinking this is not possible, will I am telling you now, that yes this is very true.

People driving by see you there. Desperately in need of help.

But no one comes.

The passers by do not know what to do and who to call.

Maybe it is summer time and the paved surface you were driving on had a shoulder that was not flush with the surface you were driving on and your tire accidentally caught the raised edge and your vehicle went over the edge and got caught on that raised lip. Now you can not get one of your wheels back on the ground.

You could just be stuck or maybe you hit an object like a telephone post.

So again you make a call for help and are told that there no tow vehicles or any other service vehicles made that can lift, tow or pull your vehicle back onto the driving surface.

Please read on. This is all real and true. Remember, you a friend, a family member or any can easily find yourself in this situation.

You can find yourself in this situation because every official of government at any level has chosen not to care and to want to render properly trained help to come and rescue you.

The government and people just think that your vehicle does not merit any concern.

They think that because of the type of vehicle you drive, that you should just be ignored and neglected.

I once found myself in this dreadful circumstance and wondered, how can it be so?

I spoke many government authorities about this situation and offered great and logical solutions.

But they chose to think that what I was saying was trivial and of no importance because they themselves do not drive the vehicle I drive.

It appeared from their reactions that they cared not because they felt that this could never happen to one of them.

How wrong they are.

My vehicle costs more then twice what most cars cost.

My vehicle if not properly constructed or maintained is just as capable of doing serious harm to myself and pedestrians, whether they drive a car, are riding a bicycle, a skateboard, pushing a baby stroller. My vehicles weight, size and power if very capable of being fatal to them as will as me.

My vehicle needs reflectors, lights and horn, rear view mirrors, weather proof wiring and construction and any of the same safety devices you would find on any other passenger vehicle.

So why is it that our governments choose to discriminate against the type of vehicle I drive?

Why is it that they do not realize that my vehicle is just as important if not more important then the vehicles they drive?

Would they like it if they were treated the way I am as I explained above in this article?

I am writing this in hopes that you and everyone else in our civilization changes their attitudes and discrimination against me and my needs to be helped or rescued in the event that any of the above emergency examples occurs to me.

I or anyone else that drives the kind of vehicle I do needs for a temporary replacement vehicle be brought to the scene of my accident in the event that my vehicle becomes un-driveable.

For the vehicle I drive is specially made so that I can be mobile.

Getting home without one of these vehicles would be impossible.

If a temporary vehicle is not available then I would have to be brought home by ambulance.

The city I live in being Halifax like most prominent cities have specialized larger vehicles that are operated by specially trained operators to deal with the transporting of the vehicle I drive.

I suggested to the city these specialized vehicles and drivers get some specialized training to deal with emergency responses for people who drive my type of vehicle.

But again the city officials just wanted to ridicule me and could not for a moment have any compassion and understanding of my situation in the event of an emergency.

So they ignored me and still today there is no trained specialized rescue personnel and vehicle for me in the event of mishap.

I suggested that these special vehicles be the rescue vehicles.

I suggested that they be having an emergency temporary replacement vehicle for me,

back at their central depot in the event of me or anyone like me needs to be rescued and have a temporary vehicle available.

Since my accident has left me disabled.

These rescuers have to be specially trained in extracting me out of my vehicle and helping me to get into the temporary vehicle they would of brought with them.

But again the city officials just ignored my suggestions.

So today.. I really fear the thought of my ever going out and about town and not being rescued by anyone that is trained to do so.

I really fear that I could just be found frozen stiff with fear.

That is what it is like for me when I try to have a life like everyone else takes for granted.

I want to be able to go out in our society knowing that I will be treated with the same due respect that everyone else receives.

I hope that this article of truth gives you some sympathetic feeling for the plight that disabled people who drive electric wheelchairs feel..

Thank you for reading this.

NOTE: The specialized vehicles I spoke of are called Access-a-bus which are division of the Halifax Metro Transit System.

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