_{This is Day 18 of the 30-day Traffic Koans contest. Details on how to enter can be found here: https://steemit.com/traffic-koans/@jedau/traffic-koans-halfway-update-1505319420-6600256}

ambulances who pick up passengers

"Come on," the carriage driver urged. "I'll give you a lift."

"But aren't you the transportation for the local infirmary?"

"Yeah, I am. What's there to do if there's nobody to transport?"

"What if there was an accident and you need to take the patient in?"

"Well then, you get off to make room."

"What if we're in the middle of nowhere when that happens?"

"Then you are unlucky."

"More unlucky than the person that was grievously injured?"

"I would assume so."

Believe it or not, there are ambulances that pick up office workers for a fee. I am not kidding. Look at how serious I am. There are ambulances that act like a point-to-point commuter van that ferries uninjured people to where they work, or at least close to where they work. Rather, there were. I haven't heard of any new news about this, but this was something I witnessed firsthand on a number of occasions.

It was only when an exposé at a local news program that prompted internal investigations about these activities. Now, I don't want to say that I singlehandedly brought this to light, but I am one of the anonymous sources who reported this in. Oops! There goes my anonymity! I'm sure a lot of people reported the same thing, that's why it was brought to their attention.

This happened back when I was college. Ambulances who had their alarm on were an everyday thing here. Usually, there were curtains on the windows, but you could still glimpse the EMTs going about with their business. One day while on the road heading to the university, I saw an ambulance slowly stop at the side of the road. We were behind it, and since we didn't have enough space to overtake it, we were forced to wait. Then, it opened its doors to let a woman, who was wearing an office attire, enter its back door. When it opened, what I saw was a sight so horrific, I dare not try to recreate it with an image. What I saw... were a group of similarly dressed people talking, laughing and sleeping.

I grew up around hospitals, being part of a family of doctors. So, I know how the back of an ambulance should look like. That was not it. But, I gave it the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps they were all injured. I mean, who am I to tell, right? I'm no doctor. But then, after a few seconds, it activated its alarm—with the flashing lights and horn, and everything. With it, the ambulance was able to cut the traffic, beat red lights, and do whatever ambulances are supposed to do during emergencies.

I mean, I get it. It was rush hour, and I was for sure going to be late for class. As a matter of fact, I did fail that Trigonometry class, but yeah anyway. They were manipulating the system, and all of their passengers were complicit to the crime. I joked that I should just try it so that I won't be late for class, but my conscience never got around to it.

I saw the same scene over and over again, until I've had enough of it. I took note of the plate numbers and I remembered the driver's faces. I would've taken video, but phones didn't have the best video quality back then. Was it anger I felt because they were abusing their power, or was it in fact jealousy that I couldn't share the benefit of it?

There was one time at the toll gate, there was traffic because, well... I really don't know why the traffic reached beyond the toll gate. But yeah, we were ahead of a marked ambulance, and as it came to, all of the vehicles parted to give way. I told the driver not to step aside, until the ambulance driver called our vehicle out in the megaphone. They were threatening to charge us with obstruction of I don't what, and as much as I wanted to take a stand, our driver folded. The ambulance driver and his accomplice glared at us as they slowly crawled past. From the slit of the curtain, all I saw was a row of people in business suits, laughing, talking and sleeping.

Since I don't think this exists anywhere else, this is a free day to share any driving-related stories you want. The weirder, the better! Go get those votes so that you would have the chance to enter the final draw :D