Why do ambulances/cops/firemen do this?

[Dranoel]

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It seems to me that pretty much every time these guys need to use their sirens, they never just flip it on. Instead of the bwee-oooh-eeeh-oooh-eeeh-oooh that the sirens are designed to make, they (especially cops) keep flipping it on and off making it go bwee...bwee...bwee-oooh...bwee. Somebody tell me there's a reason for this and that they're not just being obnoxious. I'm down with EMT and firemen, but I think cops are already obnoxious enough without this.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm an EMT in Virginia Beach.

We do this at the Oceanfront. There are a 1,000+ tourists on the sidewalks, and they don't need us to come through and make them deaf.

Trust me, it is effective to let them know we are there, but doesn't make their ears bleed. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Hope this helps.