Ambulance Etiquette

Just back from seeing Art Brut tonight. It was a good show, though the band seemed a bit less tight than they did last time around. Of course, it may also have something to do with the fact that this time I have the CD and know how the songs sound on it. Eddie's mic was a bit fuzzy, so it wasn't as easy to make out the lyrics, which is such an important part of what the band is about. Unfortunately, the sound at the Metro is often a bit iffier than in other venues, which is too bad because it's a premier Chicago stop for bands on the way up. As I was leaving, I overheard a couple of people who didn't really like Eddie's performance that much, complaining he was "too Nazi-ish." I'm not precisely sure what that means--he didn't goose-step at all that I noticed (although he did raise his arm at one point; it didn't seem intended as a salute or anything, but if you didn't know better, it might've been possible to be confused). He was quite adamant at one point that everybody in the audience go out and start a band, but he wasn't particularly threatening or fascistic about it. He said that he'd return to Chicago and seek us each out individually to find out if we had indeed started a band, but if he found we hadn't, he didn't threaten any sort of punishment--he just said he'd be very disappointed. Another odd thing after the show was that someone was passing out flyers for an upcoming Depeche Mode show at the Allstate, a huge arena-size cavern where the larger acts often play. Are they having trouble selling DMode tickets that they're hawking it just like the band you've never heard of who's playing the Empty Bottle on Tuesday?

I actually started writing this post, though, because I've got a question about ambulances. I don't know what was going on in Chicago tonight, but on the way to the show, I had to pull over three times (in three different places) for sirens. Two were ambulances and one was a fire engine. One of the ambulances was getting on Lake Shore Drive when I was, and it wasn't going very fast. All the cars had pulled over to let it pass, but once we started going again, we quickly caught up to it. There was a long line forming behind because no one wanted to pass (Lake Shore Drive is eight lanes wide, so passing didn't necessarily mean getting back in front of the ambulance). Lake Shore is usually a fast street, and most everyone is speeding by as many as 15 or 20 miles per hour over the speed limit. At one point, I'd almost caught up to the ambulance and noticed that I was going 2 mph below the speed limit so that I didn't pass it. This brought two thoughts to mind. First off, if I'm in an ambulance that's speeding me to the hospital, I want the ambulance to be speeding. It doesn't have to be reckless, of course, but an ambulance driver has a pass for many (if not all) traffic laws, so I don't want the driver to be paying attention to the posted speed limit, and I certainly don't want them to be going slower than allowed even if they were prohibited from going faster. But what is the etiquette (and the law) in such an instance. On a multi-lane road, do drivers need to stay behind a siren vehicle no matter what speed that vehicle is going?