LIghts and Sirens

My company has an agreement with the Bellevue Fire Department in which we transport their patients in exchange for a guarantee that we will be there within 12 minutes of the call. For every call we arrive late, the city of Bellevue will fine my company $500. What this means for me is that I have to drive fast and bend the rules of traffic to get there on time or I will face the wrath of my boss. Well, yesterday I was dispatched to go lights and sirens to an emergency in Bellevue. It was almost 6 miles away. I found myself going a little faster than I normally would, and going over a median into oncoming traffic to get through an intersection. You can understand why I felt the pressure to make it on time. Mapquest says it should have taken approximately 14 minutes to get there. We made it in 11 minutes and 40 seconds. Perhaps driving against a stopwatch is more stressful than dealing with some emergencies. I'm glad only 2 of our 8 fire contracts have a time limit.