RN On-call car plates/sign on cars

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I'm just curious if you guys ever get past a traffic violation like overspeeding when the police officer sees that you have an "RN On-Call" plate/sign on your car?

I see a lot of these plates and I wonder what purpose they serve aside from broadcasting that the one inside the vehicle is an "RN On-Call".

Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

I'm going with most if not all hospitals have policies in place regarding call. Ours is that 30 minutes from the call, we need to be on the floor ready to go. If you can't do that from home, the expectation is that you will make the arrangements to be able to follow the policy. Our hospital even went as far as renting an apartment for the department that can be used by those on call who are too far away.

Speeding to get to the hospital when on call is a danger not only to the speeder but to everyone else on the road. You won't be much help if you're in an accident or cause an accident that makes more work.

I've taken care of my share of police officers, and all of them have said that they will not bend the rules for nurses on call. Why? They know the policy and that the hospital has done more than most to make accomodations.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
Who in the world has obeyed all traffic laws, regardless of circumstance? Let's get real here!

I am being real. One of the BIGGEST reasons for traffic fatalities is SPEEDING. Giving a nurse or doctor, or anyone at all, license to speed because of *who they are or what work they do* is surely not going to make the victim(s) of a car accident feel any better. There is a difference here, between sudden urgency (like driving a woman in labor to the hospital), and being given prior license to disobey traffic laws because you happen to be responding to being "on call" in the hospital. Plan ahead!

Simply put, if you can't be there in the set time (30 minutes where I am)---- then either:

sleep in-house like I did

----OR----

get another job where on-call response time is not an issue.

I have a tough time believing nurses would want to risk their safety and that of others, by being allowed to speed when they can make other arrangements when on call, to make it on time. If you think about it, it really is a terrible idea.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg, Acute Rehab.
I think you'd be surprised how many of us have never intentionally broke a traffic law. Some of us don't believe in picking & choosing what laws we want to follow.

I don't think that poster said or implied "intentially" anywhere in the post!:rolleyes:

Just realized that someone already said this.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Technically, even Fire trucks and Ambulances are expected to follow posted speeds. Not that they do, but it is policy. Why would RNs be any different?

You can't help anyone if you kill yourself on the way there.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psych.
Others may disagree with me, but 15 years in I can tell you there is generally a special bond between our poliece family and our nursing family. We take care of our own.

That being said... I've been pulled over doing 80 in a 55 to get to work to see my favorite patient before he went to the OR to get a heat transplant and got a police escort..."safely"..bugger got me there but ticketed me... best fine I'd ever paid.

Trooper told me, "you may love your transplants just enough to provide the organs for them", and handed me the ticket as I ran into work.

Point is that the police may excuse a minor violation because we are one of their own, when it comes to recklessness as I did on a winding country road... he sure helped me, but I was held accountable... so I'd think twice before endangering others in my driving.

I have many a trooper card to pull with minor violations that will be honored when I use them... but there are instances, license plate, stickers and what not.. that when they feel you'll gone a bit too crazy, you are put in check.

Years ago, when I was a volunteer EMT, I was scheduled one evening to staff a satellite ambulance that we kept at a fire station a few miles from our squad house. I had gone in to the squad earlier that afternoon because they were super busy, and after wrapping up my last call realized that I had less than ten minutes to get up to my assigned shift and relieve the person who had been on duty. Without realizing it, I was driving about 15 miles over the speed limit...and sure enough I got busted by a patrol car. I was wearing my uniform...which the officer immediately noticed...and I said, "I'm so sorry...I was trying to make it up to the fire station in time for my assigned shift just three minutes from now." His demeanor softened instantly and he said heartily, "oh, okay...you go ahead...we take care of our own".

So he let me go and I arrived on time. Then about 20 minutes later he came by the station to shoot the breeze with some of the firefighters there. Officers did this all the time...but I couldn't help but wonder if he was also checking to verify that I had been straight with him.

I don't condone speeding either (I'm one of those people who NEVER goes more than 9 miles over the speed limit for anything 45 mph and up, nor more than 5 over for anything less than that). And I definitely don't think it's right to use any sort of fire/medical indicators as excuses to drive at whatever speed you like if you are not going in full out emergency mode on your way to a call (and with due regard for the safety of others). But...yes...it has been my experience as well that officers do take care of 'their own'.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in PeriOperative.

In my experience, not even trauma surgeons get a free pass for speeding.

About a week ago, I took care of a young firefighter who was driving his personal vehicle to the scene (not sure what kind of incident he was responding to). He was hit by another firefighter, and has been in the ICU ever since. Don't think it can't happen to you.

That being said, city workers are often very accommodating when it comes to medical professionals getting to the hospital. I know of a trauma surgeon who lived 10 minutes from the hospital, but was unable to get out of his neighborhood if there was a lot of snow. He would routinely call the city, explain that any time there is snow, he WILL have multiple traumas (level 1 trauma), and his route to the hospital needed to be kept clear at all times. And it was.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.
I think you'd be surprised how many of us have never intentionally broke a traffic law. Some of us don't believe in picking & choosing what laws we want to follow.

You've never gone one mph over the speed limit? No rolling stop with no other car in sight? These are common violations of the traffic laws that I see every single day, and you've NEVER done them? Really?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.
I don't think he/she meant that those who broke the law did it intentionally. Sometimes we do break traffic laws unintentionally which is what he/she is trying to say. No one is a perfect driver. I know I'm not :)

Oh, I did mean intentionally. It's called keeping up with traffic. I don't think I've EVER done 65 on the crowded interstates around here (when traffic patterns allow it), otherwise I'd have everyone blowing by me.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NICU.
Oh, I did mean intentionally. It's called keeping up with traffic. I don't think I've EVER done 65 on the crowded interstates around here (when traffic patterns allow it), otherwise I'd have everyone blowing by me.

Haha okay okay.

p.s. I agree. No way can I do 50 on the highway. People would honk the heck out of me. I do at least 65 to keep up with the pace of traffic, and yea, that's done intentionally but not maliciously.

hehehe :D

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Not sure what type of sign you are referring to but I disagree with identifying my vocation to every schmo on the road. Had an ex coworker with RN BENZ on the tage of her mercedes. All it got her was trouble when she drove past an auto accident and a helpful bystander remembered her catchy tag and turned her in for not stopping. Same with hanging scopes on rearview mirrors. I think its a bad idea.

I find this odd. She was turned in because as an RN she was expected to stop? And then what happened, nothing? Nurses aren't required to stop at every accident they may happen upon :rolleyes: Unless the law varies among states, but still it just doesn't seem plausible.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NICU.

I agree with the poster above me because like I said before. Whoever turned that person in would have to prove it was actually an RN behind the wheel because let other people drive their car all the time. And even if it was truly the RN behind the wheel, she/he is not obligated to stop whenever there is an auto accident so I don't see how someone could get into trouble for that. MDs aren't expected to do it and their vanity plates are a lot more popular than RNs.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in critical care/tele/emergency.

Okay, so this may be a bit of a stretch but...in my state, the Good Samaritan Law states you won't be held liable for acts rendered in good faith when outside a compensation setting (ie auto accident) but there is no protection for gross negligence or omissions, etc. So, it could be argued that if a nurse fails to stop and render care and someone recognizes them as they pass by.... a lawyers dream case. Bottom line, I stop at accidents and carry good . (small town living means everyone knows everyone else)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment