I'm not exactly an agent of the world but do most ambulances scream along silently these days?

They finally learned that the siren sometimes causes stress and panic and accidents.  So, it's most likely to hear sirens for a few second at the time, like to get someone to move over.  The lights still blink constantly quite often, that's my observation.

Oh no.  They make lots of noise.

Depends on the situation. They use the sirens if necessary but otherwise rely just on the lamps.

"awesome"?