Two teenagers were killed after being hit by a private ambulance while riding a scooter on a bus lane Monday night in Lyon. The driver was taken into custody.
Who is the suspect driving the ambulance?
According to a police source, the driver has a heavy liability, with 28 traffic violations: crossing white lines, excessive speeds or lack of insurance. The 36-year-old was driving with a probationary license, on which he only had two out of eight points left. He had his first license withdrawn in 2019, after losing all his points. The ambulance driver and his fellow passenger were hospitalized in shock. The alcohol screening turned out to be negative, that of narcotics is being analyzed, according to the Lyon prosecutor’s office at franceinfo.
According to the first elements of the investigation, the two young people would have swerved as the ambulance passed on the lane reserved for buses and unregistered two-wheelers, at the corner of rue de Condé and the quay of Marshal Joffre. , in the second district of Lyon. The victims, a 17-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl, together, were thrown several meters. Witnesses told investigators that the ambulance was traveling “very brisk pace” : she was going to intervention, according to a head of the department’s firefighters at franceinfo. Some witnesses stated that the ambulance had indeed activated its siren and flashing light, but others contradict this version.
Can a paramedic drive with a probationary licence?
After the conditions of the drama, this is one of the questions that arise in the first place with this drama: does an ambulance driver have the right to drive with a probationary license? The answer is a priori nope. This profession actually transports injured, sick or elderly patients in equipped and adapted medical transport vehicles to a care structure, such as a hospital or a retirement home. He may also be required to transport labile blood products, organs or transplant teams.
To exercise this profession, you must have a state ambulance diploma (DEA) for ambulance driving, accessible without a diploma condition, according to the Onisep website. But the candidate for this training must hold, among other things, a category B driving license outside the probationary period, in accordance with the regulations in force, and the prefectural certificate of fitness to drive an ambulance. So a paramedic must have had a driver’s license for at least three years before he can drive an ambulance. If the paramedic sees his driver’s license withdrawn, he automatically loses his prefectoral certificate of fitness to drive an ambulance.
However, for Thierry Schifano, president of the National Federation of Medical Mobility, imposing a maximum threshold of offenses to be able to exercise this profession is not “not the solution”. “I don’t know at this time if this employee has had serious offenses or not”he argued at the microphone of franceinfo, “Was it prohibited parking, speeding over three km / h? Let’s not forget that our paramedics travel more than 90,000 kilometers a year, they can indeed be subject to a few infractions.” According to him, the profession remains “very framed” : “it takes more than three years of probationary license to drive an ambulance, we have medical visits to detect addiction problems in particular and employers check the driving license every six months.” However, he acknowledges that “If the employee was not in compliance with these rules, there is no gift to be made, it is necessary to allow time for the investigation to determine the circumstances of the accident.”
Can a paramedic ride on a bus lane?
On RTL, Christophe Bougie, vice-president of the national federation of ambulance craftsmen explains that “It depends on municipal and prefectural decrees which authorize us or not to use either all of the bus lanes or part of the bus lanes within the framework of interventions, in particular on call from the Samu”. Thus, there would be a “tolerance for the use of these bus lanes at the present time” in some cities. However, on the bus lane, the ambulance cannot drive too fast: “we have a tolerance of 20 or 30 km/h above, but we have to prove that it is an intervention at the request of the Samu”he explains at the microphone of RTL.
Scooters can, for their part, ride on bus lanes, only if there is no cycle path. The bus lane is, in this case, listed as a cycle lane, but the signs must indicate this.
An investigation opened for manslaughter
The environmentalist mayor of Lyon offered his condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims on Twitter: the conclusions of the investigation “will allow us to identify new measures to be taken to improve road safety in Lyon”, he said. .
Road safety is one of our priorities. @VilledeLyon @prefetrhone and @grandlyon are already mobilizing to put in place the necessary road improvements, signage, speed checks and awareness campaigns.
— Gregory Doucet (@Gregorydoucet) August 23, 2022
An investigation for “manslaughter” was opened by the Lyon prosecutor’s office and entrusted to the DDSP du Rhône.