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SpanishThe panic that accompanies those blaring sirens, high speed, and flashing red lights of emergency vehicles is one you don’t want to experience. But sadly, it’s inevitable, especially if you don’t know what to do. To make this worse, if you just decide to move out of their way, chances are you may have to face a fine that could sum up to £1000. Now, you’re faced with the devil and the deep blue sea – should you maintain your lane and ultimately find yourself at the wring side of the law, or move out of their way wrongly, and end up with a lesser fine? Well, you don’t have to settle for any.
Of course, moving away is right – but doing the right thing is not enough, you must do it rightly. So, in this guide, we will range over a few driving lessons and tips to note when dealing with an emergency vehicle.
The basic rules pertinent to emergency vehicles
Emergency vehicles have the highest road priority. Every time you see them flashing their lights and blaring sirens, there’s a high probability that someone is in a life-death situation. As such, failing to grant them passage as safely and quickly as possible could land you on the wrong side of the law. And of course, attract heavy fine. However, if you want to do the right thing the right way, you need to also know what’s wrong. So, moving away in the following ways could still land you in trouble.
Going past the solid white line when the traffic light indicates a red could attract a 3 penalty point on your license, as well as a sizable fine. Besides, if you decide to move onto a bus lane to allow the emergency vehicle, you’d still have to pay a fine. Most bus lanes are now under CCTV surveillance, and the local authority won’t give ears to won’t excuses. Lastly, if you have a blocked exit, and you move into a yellow box Junction, get ready to pay some fine.
Doing things right according to set standards and highway code
Note that with the Fanshawe drive test Ontario, you can get familiar and practice these standards without much hassle. Having said that, highway code demands that you pay attention to emergency vehicles, which may include
- Typical ambulances
- Police
- Doctor’, bomb disposal, blood transfusion, and coastguard vehicles
- Firetrucks, etc.
Usually, they use green, red, or blue flashing lights, sirens with traffic officers, or support vehicles with amber lights flashing from them.
Try as much as possible to steer clear of their paths, and using your mirrors, see where they’re coming from, and assess everything ahead of you and beside you. Never leave room for panic when doing this. Check their path and try every possible and reasonable legal measure to make them pass.
However, an experienced driving instructor will tell you to never stop if you’re just before the brows of a hill or on a narrow road where the emergency vehicle will find it difficult to pass. Doing this, you don’t want to endanger any lives so don’t be careless with your brakes. Besides, most emergency vehicle drivers are familiar with the pertinent codes and laws, and as such, they don’t expect you to breach them: only a safe attempt is what they expect.
Check for a decent, legal, and safe spot to pull over. However in cases where no one is able to move, such as a red traffic light, the drivers understand, and as such, they tend to put off their sirens till you can move again.