Attention All Emergency Vehicle Operators:

If your vehicle is equipped with a siren, may I suggest using it on approach to the intersection rather than at the point you reach it?

I am very good at getting out of the way of emergency vehicles but twice within the past 24 hours I have had to accellerate to avoid being t-boned by an emergency vehicle in downtown Victoria. Last night at approximately 11:25 p.m. I was driving along Pandora (westbound), crossing Douglas and an Ambulance suddenly appeared in my line of sigth approaching along Douglas. As I was in the intersection, the Ambulance turned on its siren. (I believe the lights may have been on, but from the direction I was travelling, they were not visible until I was already in the intersection.) This evening at about 5:35 p.m. I was driving along Johnson St. (eastbound) when the same thing happened with a police car as I entered the intersection at Vancouver. After accellerating through the intersection, several cars followed me, and I could still hear the intermittent Bwoop!, Bweeop! as the siren was sounded, but not left running.

WTF? If it is an emergency, use your siren. If it's your coffee break, wait your goddamned turn.