You must yield the right-of-way to fire, ambulance, police and other authorized emergency vehicles when they are responding to emergencies. They will display lights that are flashing red, red and blue, or red and white and sound a siren or air horn. When you hear or see an emergency vehicle approaching your vehicle from any direction, including on your side of an expressway or limited access highway, safely pull over immediately to the right edge of the road and stop. Wait until the emergency vehicle passes before driving on.
Tips for drivers when an emergency vehicle approaches:
- Wait until the emergency vehicle passes before driving on.
- If you are in an intersection, drive out of it before you pull over.
- You must pull over and stop for an emergency vehicle even if it is coming toward you in the opposite lane of a two-lane roadway.
- If you hear a siren or air horn nearby but do not know exactly where the emergency vehicle is, you should safely pull over to the right-side
edge of the road and stop until you are sure it is not approaching you.
- Emergency vehicles may legally exceed the speed limit, pass red lights and STOP or YIELD signs, go the wrong way on one-way streets and turn in directions not normally allowed, so be very cautious when an emergency vehicle approaches.
- You must obey any traffic direction, order, or signal by a traffic or police officer or a firefighter even if it conflicts with existing signs, signals, or laws.