DriveSmartBC

“Well, I thought that you were trying to catch that car ahead of me.” This is a common reply when drivers are stopped to explain why they didn’t pull over for the police vehicle trying to catch an obvious violator. The vehicle ahead of these drivers might be the object of the pursuit, but how is that driver to know?

Have you ever met or been overtaken by an emergency vehicle with lights flashing and sirens wailing when you were navigating a roundabout? What to do? Well, a roundabout is just another type of intersection, so you must immediately move out of it, stop and remain stopped until the emergency vehicle or vehicles pass by.

Here's an new angle on a continual problem, that of other road users failing to yield to emergency vehicles. Most of the time this question is asked about cars and trucks, but this fire department official asks the question about a different subset of traffic, cyclists:

I am guessing that most people see the code 3 operation of an emergency vehicle as something that would be exciting or thrilling. From my own experience I can say that this feeling quickly wears off and a sense of responsibility settles in. The lights and siren provide no protection for you or anyone else on the highways and the speeds involved expose us all to danger.

Imagine that you are a firefighter, hose in hand, approaching the flames inside a burning building. You open the nozzle on your attack line and...nothing. Someone has driven over the hose outside in the street and ruptured it causing a loss of pressure. Not only are you unable to fight the fire, you are at risk now too.

I have received a number of e-mails from readers following the column on B.C.'s new Slow Down, Move Over law. They are concerned that some people are taking this to mean that they don't have to pull over and stop on the approach of an emergency vehicle anymore. People that they have spoken with think that it is now acceptable to slow down, move over and let the emergency vehicle pass them by. This is not correct!

Emergency workers are very happy with BC's new slow down, move over law that came into effect June 1, 2009. When they are stopped at the side of the highway and displaying flashing lights, red, blue or yellow, approaching traffic is required to slow down and move over. This will provide a safe workspace for the emergency workers and hopefully also for those who are driving past.

The Motor Vehicle Act Regulations have been amended to create Division 47 which is scheduled to come into effect June 1, 2009. The new rules will require drivers approaching stopped emergency vehicles displaying flashing lights to slow down, and if traffic permits, to move over into the adjacent lane in order to pass by. The changes will provide a safe working area for emergency crews.

Judging by the result, it may be a significant event in many driver's lives to be pulled over by the police. I've seen everything from jamming on the brakes and stopping in the middle of the lane to following oblivious drivers for many kilometers before they caught sight of my emergency lights.

We had a red light and the cross traffic had a green, however at the same time there was also a small blue light right next to the red traffic light which was flashing. For several minutes traffic in all directions remained stopped as it appeared that none of us knew what this was all about. There were no emergency vehicles coming through.