emergency?

My mom had a serious asthma attack when we were living in Beijing. The taxi driver didn't seem to understand the problem with his smoking in the car on our way to the hospital. Still, taking a taxi was probably faster than calling an ambulance would have been.
I remember reading some article in the States saying that ambulances don't actually get to the scene of an emergency much faster than if they were to drive at the same speed as the rest of traffic. Whether or not that's true, I wouldn't be surprised if the traffic here in Shanghai beat ambulances to the accident every time. You know how in the US you're supposed to pull over to the right when you hear the sirens and see the flashing lights? Well, not only do drivers not do that here, but they actually pull in front of an ambulance if there's any room to be had. The ambulance drivers don't seem to mind too much; they use their horns half as often as the taxi drivers trying to squeeze them out do. I only hope they feel a little more urgency when somebody's dying in the back of their van.