Fines of up to 31,000 pesos for yield to emergency vehicles 

Through social networks and citizen alert groups, some people have frequently denounced the appalling behavior of drivers at the time the emergency units pass by, as they have witnessed how some go behind them to avoid traffic or do not yield. According to the Police and Good Municipal Government Band, it sanctions these behaviors with a fine that can exceed 31,000 pesos. 

In an interview for CPS News and Tribune of Mexico, Juan Antonio Carbajal Figueroa, commander of the Cabo San Lucas Fire Department, indicated that a triggering factor for this problem is that some drivers lack driving culture and, on the other hand, the lack alternate routes that cause vehicular traffic, which causes the level of stress to increase. 

     “The request that we would make to the community is that they be aware that they are blocking an emergency service that is probably going to attend to a relative, who is going to attend to a person whose life is in danger. So, yes, we must be aware of allowing it to pass or trying to open the way and not hinder emergency vehicles, be it a fire truck, ambulance, or even the Municipal Police, because if it has the turrets on, it is announcing that going to an emergency,” said Juan Antonio Carbajal Figueroa, commander of the Cabo San Lucas Fire Department. 

Carbajal Figueroa emphasized that obstructing the passage of emergency units is an action that violates the Los Cabos Police and Good Government Band, since said ordinance states in its article 65 that obstructing the work of emergency services is considered an offense against security and tranquility of the people, for whose commission a sanction will be applied for the equivalent of 50 to 300 UMAS, that is, a fine that ranges from $5,187 to $31,122 Mexican pesos. 

It should be remembered that the Cabo San Lucas Firefighters have had two mishaps related to drivers that have endangered the integrity of their lives and that of others. In a first event, the ambulance of said institution was harassed and attacked by the driver of a vehicle without license plates, while the elements went to attend to an emergency; In another event, a hotel transport truck obstructed the passage of an extinguishing machine, which delayed attention to a fire. 

     “Because if someone premeditated, as was the case with the bus that blocked the passage of the fire truck, if for that reason the fire department does not arrive and a person dies, possibly this motorist bears a responsibility; can, in some way, be asserted before the corresponding instances”. 

In this sense, the director of Municipal Transit, Marcelo Cota, affirmed in an interview that this situation has been reported by the emergency units, in which they have reported drivers who do not give way to said units. For this, he recommended that citizens know those behaviors that deserve a sanction through the Police and Good Government Band of Los Cabos. 

 Source: Tribuna