If you are a New York City commuter driving along the FDR Drive or the Henry Hudson Parkway/West Side Highway you have no doubt done this: As an ambulance passes with its lights flashing and siren whining you jump into the lane they’re in and try to get as close to the ambulance as possible. You can sometimes “ride this wave” for a considerable distance. The trick is staying close enough so that a dozen drivers don’t cut in front of you. Eventually enough cars do so that you lose your tactical advantage and you’re back to being bumper-to-bumper.
You probably don’t want to try this in Москва. Here if you wanted to do this maneuver you have to have nerves of steel and lightning-quick reflexes. In order to gain an advantage you will literally have to pull up right behind the ambulance about a meter or less behind the rear bumper, kind of like the way racing cars do (it’s called drafting) in the Daytona 500. If you let so much as a hair’s width between you and the bumper I guaranty someone in the lane next to you (or even two lanes from you) will cut you off and wiggle their way into that space to get the advantage. You slam on the brakes hoping you saw them in time before you become another accident statistic on the M10 requiring that same ambulance you were trying to draft…not for the faint of heart.
While I consider myself a pretty good commuting driver, around here in Москва I just let the ambulance pass me by…it’s not worth it…not even a little…
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