Dealing With Emergency Vehicles

Many of you when learning may have already encountered an emergency vehicle approaching you displaying all of its visual warning equipment and sounding its sirens or horns.

The first thing that you MUST make sure you do is:

DO NOT PANIC ! ! !

If you hear a siren approaching but cannot see it, then do not react immediately, instead you should increase your all round observations to identify where the emergency vehicle is coming from.  Be very careful as you do so as other road users may have already reacted and may stop suddenly in front of you.

Once you have identified where the emergency vehicle is coming from, try and anticipate its intended path and ask yourself ‘what can I do to assist the emergency vehicle in its progress?’.

Often the best course of action will be to identify a suitable place to stop and to use the MSM routine to stop safely leaving plenty of space for the emergency vehicle to pass you.

Many drivers believe that the correct thing to do to allow an emergency vehicle to overtake, is to move to the left a little, and slow down a little, but generally speaking this is not helpful to the emergency vehicle and will only slow it down further.  The car to be overtaken is still moving so the emergency vehicle must identify a suitable stretch of road to perform a safe overtake, and if this is not immediately possible, then all that will happen is the emergency vehicle’s progress will be hindered by the car that has slowed down but not stopped, so in this case it is better to stop your vehicle to allow the emergency vehicle to pass you safely and continue on its way.

Things you SHOULD NOT do to assist an emergency vehicle:

• Do not panic ! ! !
  
• Do not drive onto the kerb/pavement.
  
• Do not proceed across a red traffic light to make a path for the emergency vehicle.
  
• Do not stop on a road with a double white line where the line nearest to you is solid.
  
• Do not alter course or speed until you have identified where the emergency vehicle is approaching from and where it is going to.
  
• Do not stop opposite a bollard in the middle of the road or other obstruction making the road narrower for the emergency vehicle.
  
• Do not move off again without first checking all around, be particularly aware of more emergency vehicles approaching.  Other vehicles may have already moved off again causing you to wait for a safe gap to move off.

 

While driving, you may notice other vehicles around you starting to pull over and appear to be stopping, be very careful and check your mirrors well before planning an overtake as the vehicle ahead of you may well be reacting to an emergency vehicle which is behind you.  Recent research shows that a car travelling at speeds of 45mph or above, the driver cannot hear an approaching siren from behind them.  This is due to engine and tyre noise, and this speed will be lower where the driver is listening to music or in conversation.

If the emergency vehicle is oncoming, but it has no traffic in front of it, then it is less likely that you will need to do anything to assist it.  However, if it needs to overtake parked cars or moving traffic, then try to select a safe place to pull over to your left.  Avoid stopping opposite other obstructions where possible as this will make the road narrower for the emergency vehicle.

If you are waiting at a junction (give way, stop or traffic light controlled etc) and you hear an emergency vehicle approaching, then do not enter the junction.  However if you are already travelling at speed towards a green traffic light, and are already entering the junction when you hear the siren, do not panic and brake harshly, as the emergency vehicle ‘should not’ put itself into your path until they can see that you have reacted to them (unless it is absolutely necessary to brake hard in order to avoid a collision).

These are only intended as some rough guidelines of how to deal with emergency vehicles, but you should discuss each scenario with your instructor to analyse the specifics of each situation of an emergency vehicle that you encounter.

Please remember the advice given in the Highway Code:

 

194: Emergency vehicles. You should look and listen for ambulances, fire engines, police or other emergency vehicles using flashing blue, red or green lights, headlights or sirens. When one approaches do not panic. Consider the route of the emergency vehicle and take appropriate action to let it pass. If necessary, pull to the side of the road and stop, but do not endanger other road users.

Just remember – DO NOT PANIC

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Dealing With Emergency Vehicles Tutorial.
 
Author – Kev D  (ADI, Police Driver Trainer)