Keep their safety in mind
An ambulance is transporting a critically injured patient to the hospital.
A fire truck is en route to a residential fire that could spread quickly to other homes in the area.
A police car is responding to an urgent 911 call for help.
These are critical situations where emergency responders need drivers to pay attention and follow the rules of the road so they can do their jobs.
Unfortunately, emergency responders continually experience problems and critical delays navigating traffic, as most drivers are unfamiliar of the rules of the road, especially as they relate to emergency vehicles.
Rules of the Road
According to the Alberta Traffic Safety Act, when an emergency vehicle (ambulance, fire or police) is approaching you from any direction and is sounding a siren, you must yield the right-of-way by:
Immediately moving clear of any intersection
Driving your vehicle to the right side of the road if it has one or two lanes.
Driving your vehicle to the nearest side of the road if it has three or more lanes.
If you are in the centre lane, drive to the right side.
Stopping until the emergency vehicle has passed and check that no other emergency vehicles are approaching
Remember, you must not follow within 150m of any emergency vehicle that has its siren or lights operating. When driving, incidents may cause the lanes of the roadway to be blocked or narrowed. Some examples of this are traffic collisions, disabled vehicles, spilled cargo, and highway maintenance or construction. Flashing lights from emergency vehicles will warn you of a problem ahead. Reduce speed, carefully change lanes if necessary and be prepared to stop. Follow directions given by emergency personnel directing traffic. Be aware that the vehicle ahead of you may stop or reduce speed unexpectedly to view the scene.
One of the most serious problems associated with these types of incidents is the risk of response personnel or equipment being struck by passing vehicles. Services that typically respond to highway incidents include:
• law enforcement
• ambulance
• fire
• towing
• hi- way workers
So if you don’t want to get a huge fine, demerit points taking off your licence, or even worse cause an accident or kill someone trying to do their job, slow down when any one is working on the roads or in town to make our drive a safe one and their jobs much easier to get done so they can go home that day or night to their family as well.
