Originally Posted by
Pickles
Add to that the fact that Japan is unique among civilized countries where nobody gives the right of way to an ambulance, so you'll have to listen to it for 5 times as long as elsewhere, all while the driver, through a 120db megaphone, keeps beseeching the surrounding traffic in exceedingly polite and convoluted language to please move out of the way.
Let me try this again (note to self: refrain my posting while drunk; it only makes me look more fool than I already am).
I have to disagree.
First, the verbal announcements from ambulances are most certainly neither overly polite nor at all convoluted. In fact, I find it incredible that anyone who speaks even the most fundamental level of Japanese would think so.
Second, what do they do at intersections in other cities with similar levels of congestion and similar narrow roads (downtown Boston might be a fair comparison)?
And third, although I have no data to back it up, I would be willing to bet (and give favourable odds), that the accident rate at intersections with ambulances is lower in Japan than in comparable locations (and is not the accident rate the most important parameter?).
(In any case, I apologise for my rudeness; for some it is "don't drive drunk", but for me it should be "don't post drunk". Maybe because I don't drive.)