Unhindered

I had just exited a bus and was about to cross the street when I saw an ambulance tear around the corner and make its way behind a restaurant where a fire truck already lay idling at the curb in front. I could not make out the nature of the emergency from my vantage point, and it seemed unwise to attempt getting closer. It was not the ambulance's objective that was of real interest to me anyway. I was thinking more of the unique freedom that both firefighter and paramedic have on the roads.

It seems like they are more or less at liberty to ignore whatever standards of road safety they like so long as they cause no collateral harm and reach their destination in the shortest amount of time possible. I would not be the least bit surprised if there were someone in either profession who, with exasperation, would want to dispel my ignorant beliefs in this matter. I hope they'll keep that to themselves, because it makes me happy to think of someone existing who speeds along the roadways unfettered by ordinary bounds like the rest of us.

You may be asking, "Aren't you forgetting the policeman, who recklessly careens around the streets in pursuit of criminals?" Obviously I have considered them. It feels different. The ambulance or fire truck is going somewhere, and the police officer is going after someone, perhaps with intent to dole out force. I concede that there is some overlap, however. Let's include them, as trying to reason the explanation I'd like to have is building into far too much effort for my liking.

Just imagine what it must be like to easily skirt the many frustrations which make transit such a crapshoot. The ambulance passes who it likes on the left and on the right, crossing into the oncoming lanes and venturing through red lights after some token consideration for those who may be coming the other way. I think that alone among motorists, those who drive these vehicles are competent drivers, and need not be constrained by laws like the rest of us. Who says there are no heroes?