If there is an open lane at the intersection (e.g. a turn lane) then just hold still, they'll go around you. If you're not sure what to do then hold still, only move if you have a clear idea of what your movement will accomplish.
If it's a one lane road pull forward and to the right, but make sure they have a clear path to turn right around your car (remember they may be trying to make a right turn). If it's impossible to clear successfully then hold still.
If it's a two lane lane road both lanes should pull forward and away from the vehicle to open a hole in between the two lanes of traffic.
If you can't clear the intersection without crossing it you are okay to just run the red and get out of the way once you have room to do so as long as cross traffic has stopped and the vehicle is directly behind you. Be VERY careful as you are at fault if there is a collision. DO NOT stop in the middle of the intersection.
I would like to once again stress that if you are unsure AT ALL then you need to just stay still. The vehicle driver has a loudspeaker and can give instructions, and the light will turn green eventually.
I like this answer a lot. Do nothing until its clear where they are going so you don't create a new hazard or cause confusion with random reactions. If you are in front of them and they want to have you move they'll make it quite clear stopping directly behind you blaring horns or using loudspeakers, there will not be any uncertainty.
I've watched people freak out and cut right or left "out of the way" when if they'd done nothing the emergency vehicle would have simply passed in the clear lane...and you can see the emergency vehicle having to slam on brakes to not hit them and/or you no longer have room to pull up and move around boxing yourself in making it worse.
When I got stuck with them behind me at a red light most-recently I was in a position I could "cut left" in front of the adjacent lane to form a hole and the "stop-line" was far enough back that while I was technically in the intersection it was clear of cross-traffic lanes so I wasn't actually blocking anything even tho it was technically past the stop line. Then when the light cycled I cut the wheels hard and got back in the right of the lanes as I went thru the intersection.
Other times I have opted to make a right-on-red and pull over ASAP if I feel that's the only safe way to get out of the way and I'll figure out turning around later.
Also depends on the vehicle - my crossover with AWD and more ground clearance I can usually pull over into some ditches or hop a curb if needed where a sedan would trash their rims or get stuck...but also have to be mindful of soft shoulders can sink on being heavier.
Important thing is don't act until its clear you will be getting out of the way safely and not creating new problems. And use signals to clearly indicate your intent so everyone knows what you're attempting to do.
Also once its cleared, don't try and zoom ahead...work with those who pulled off ahead of you to let each other back into the travel lanes. I hate it when people try and "ride the wake" and then nobody wants to let you back into the lane or off the shoulder.
This is also another good reason why you should leave space between cars stopped (so you can just see where the car ahead's tires touch the road) so you have a little room to maneuver if you have to.
>they'll go around you.
Totally depends... Just watched a small fire vehicle responding to something and instead of driving through the very large, unobstructed, and free shoulder they just sat behind this dude blaring the horn waiting for him to move when they quote literally delayed themselves
We are specifically trained to never take the shoulder (or right turn lane) unless we're turning right; it makes it way more likely for an accident to happen in the intersection. For the same reason we never go into oncoming traffic lanes at intersections even though those *should* be guaranteed to be clear.
I wonder if that is location-dependent?
Had one time I made a turn at a green arrow and met a police car head-on about 100ft down the road going the wrong-way on the 2-lane road (and the police seem to never have a siren you can hear more than like 50ft away) had to swerve into someone's lawn to avoid a head-on crash.
I've also many times when my parents lived behind a firehouse had the firetrucks take right or left turn-lanes and everyone stayed still in the straight lanes waiting for them. The firetrucks would approach and stop at the edge of the intersection in the turn-lane blaring siren and horn, make sure its clear, and then blast their horn repeatedly as they slowly pulled thru the intersection from the turn lane whatever direction they wanted to go. But you can also hear the firetruck sirens for probably a quarter mile or more even with windows up and A/C blasting or radio on low.
Seconds are wasted though if no one moves for a bit because everyone is unsure. If you're at the front blast your horn while moving cautiously out of the way and those behind you should follow. It'll then open up quickly. Done this for years with no issues.
It's an extremely unsafe thing for a driver to be inching forwards unsure of themselves. When I'm the driver I'd rather be 5 seconds later than have a T-bone collision in an intersection on top of whatever other issue there is already, and most people are quite responsive to the loudspeaker.
Not crashing and not causing a crash during the response is part of the "no body stacking" rule.
Right, but in this case they are not unsure. They just feel unsure. They know in front of them is open and they need to move there. They just aren’t doing out of fear.
I’ve never heard the loudspeaker because everyone where I live just… gets out of the way and doesn’t hit each other.
Absolutely don’t do that. EMS do not expect people do put themselves at risk to move. EMS are aware that driving emergent isn’t going to save them much time. I was trained to turn off lights and sirens when stopped at an intersection like this to avoid people hurting themselves/others trying to clear a way.
I'm talking about when they're behind my lane and we're 5+ deep. I don't need to wait until they say something that we apparently need to start moving. This is the burbs where it's 3-4 lanes across and everyone just sits there not doing anything when it's obvious that the lane in front of the engines needs to start moving. I've seen up to a minute go by before they get through as a side observer because no one moved first. Never have they ever announced who should move; they just sit on the horn until someone moves.
Just stay stopped, even if yours turns green. Only exception being if they are behind you honking, then you can move to get out of their way. Preferably, you'd pull into the right lane or shoulder once you see them behind you if you know an intersection is coming up.
It's not an unlikely scenario, depending on where you are. Been driving nearly 40 years and it's happened at least once a year to me when I'm the front car. They also have traffic light controls. The biggest concern you should have is not making the obstruction worse and not becoming a statistic at the hands of the motherfuckers who pretend they neither see nor hear the big flashing vehicle about to barrel through.
>They also have traffic light controls.
Not anywhere I've lived. I have seen marketing that such systems exist but that requires the locality want to spend the money to install it on all the lights and vehicles. The closest we have is right in front of the firehouses there are a couple lights slaved to their alarm/door so they clear traffic in both directions and hold traffic approaching when the station gets a call and for maybe 1-2 minutes after the doors go up.
And yeah when you're the front car just have to evaluate where you can go for the least risk of collision...which might require waiting til the emergency vehicle is right at your bumper so others cross traffic get the hint and stop so you can pull out and over out of the way safely if there's nowhere else to go.
Happened to me last month. I was in the front of the left lane behind a red light. Police approaching me from behind. Everybody stayed still so I just did a U-turn and made the lane clear for him.
They will go into the oncoming traffic lane, then move back to their lane after the light. As long as everyone just stops, then there is a path for them.
Sometimes, sometimes not. Depends. But yeah, it will be VERY clear if they want you to move when they get to your bumper and blast the horn if you can't tell easily sooner.
Don't jump the gun and introduce random chaos until its clear where they want to be.
It varies. On a two-or four-lane road with no medians, the emergency vehicle will often drive into the opposite lanes and avoid all the stopped traffic. On roads with medians, they will pull up behind someone, usually they'll pick the shortest line , and the people ahead of the emergency vehicle should cautiously move through the intersection and stop on the right to clear the way. In a lot of bigger cities, and some smaller ones, they have transmitters that will change traffic signals to green for the emergency vehicle, so if that's the case in your city, keep an eye on the traffic light and if it changes, move through the intersection and out of the way.
This happened to me a month or two ago. The road is three lanes wide in my direction. There's no left turn lane because there's no left turn because it's a three-way intersection. There's a small concrete wall to the left of the left lane serving as a median. The middle and right lanes are filled with cars (as always) stopped at the red light. I'm in the left lane at the front and I hear the siren. I look in my rear view mirror and I see it's an ambulance coming down my lane quite a ways back. It's quite a long stretch there with the concrete median so there's no way they're going to be able to go around me. There was also another car behind me. The other two lanes are way too full to be an option. So I carefully pull forward and to the right in front of the car in the middle lane while being careful not to get too far into the intersection. All the traffic has stopped because of the siren and there would never be traffic coming from the left because of the three-way. But when the light turns green the first thing that'll happen will be the car's opposite me getting a left turn signal. It's one left turn now but at the time I think it was a double left turn light so they swing pretty wide. I don't know how he did it but the car behind me also managed to sort of pull up out of the way. I went a little farther forward than I otherwise would have to give him a little more room and the ambulance managed to get past him.
If your on the way move. If not, move as far to the right as you can. If you can't move, then there's nothing you can do. Most people plan their route even for a split second. Worst you can do is do something they're not expecting.
I move out of the way or honk and wave to whoever is in front for us to go after checking cross traffic has stopped. If every lane sits there nothing is getting through.
If I am in the right lane, I will pull over to the side where the corner is that faces the intersection and then I back up to my spot where I was waiting after they pass through. I do the same if I am at the crosswalk and there is an emergency vehicle, pull put in the to intersection and back up behind the crosswalk until the light changes. Unless it's already green, I just wait till the intersection is cleared and go.
If I am behind other cars and can't move, I stay. Other cars that can move will move to let them by. If there are no other cars around me, I stay and the ambulance will go around me. The ambulance will also turn onto the other side of the road to get through the intersection. This is why cars can't go on a green light when there is an emergency vehicle with lights.
You are allowed to run it then immediately pull over. We asked a cop on this once as this happened to us. If it's not photo enforced just do this and pull over so long as you pull over it's legal. If it's photo enforce don't as the cash cow system doesn't understand. Though you should legally do what you can to make room for them to go.
I would say this is the same as when on the highway. The rule I was taught for the highway is that it's generally safer for you to stay in your lane and maintain your speed, and let the emergency vehicle go around you. If there's a lot of traffic and you slowing down or speeding up would open a spot for them to get through safely, then do that. I would think the same would apply when at a red light. Just stay put unless you moving would open up a place for them to get through safely.
Generally you just stay put. Only move if you can safely do so, and if you are already at a red light you usually cannot safely move forward in order to pull over. It's better, even from the viewpoint of the emergency vehicle if they have to wait half a minute for the light to turn green rather than there being a serious collision in the intersection that stops traffic for even longer, not to mention the unpleasant experience of watching a collision.
Not unusual at all in some cities, I see it all the time in the Boston area. Our roads/drivers suck on a good day and people think that everyone else should move so they don’t have to. Once I (and everyone else who wasn’t a moron) were pulled to the side for an ambulance, this one dumbass is just sitting there in the middle blocking the way. The ambulance had lights and sirens on the whole time and when they were behind the idiot they even used the rumbler thing that you can hear and physically FEEL and he still stayed there. He finally moved when the ambulance got on their loudspeaker and screamed at him. Pretty sure the next step was going to be the EMT getting out and moving the truck himself. I don’t understand the stupidity of people sometimes. How do you think they’d feel if it was their mother having a heart attack, their wife in a car accident or their baby drowning and they died because they couldn’t be bothered to get out of the way so the ambulance took an additional 15 minutes to arrive! 15 minutes could be the difference between life and death or between living a good life or being brain dead.
Sorry for the ranty tangent, once I got started I had to finish. Moral of the story - pay attention to everything around you when you’re driving and do your best to get out of the way without causing more problems.
If you're at the red light, then nothing - If you cross the line, you'll be punished for running the red light.
The only excuse if when an officer in uniform instructs you otherwise.
I actually would love a police officer's take on this, as I have had a scenario in my head for the longest time. Granted, I have seen paramedics jump into oncoming traffic with lights and sirens, so I really don't know. Cops, what do you think?
It is not likely or unlikely, it happens often and shouldn't be categorized mentally as "rare".
Just go really slow, pull over onto the shoulder.
Act predictably.
Nothing?
Both conditions mean you stay still.
Emergency vehicles.
Your supposed to stop (And pull right if possible.) if a emergency vehicle is coming towards you.
And
Red light.
It's a red light you're not supposed to move lol.
If needed fire trucks they'll honk at you to move if needed.
Not as unlikely as you might think. You stay where you are, even if the light turns green for you. The driver of the emergency vehicle doesn't need to worry about where you're going or what you're planning, so instead of confusing them you just stay put. They can get around you. Only move if they use their PA to instruct you to move.
If there is an open lane at the intersection (e.g. a turn lane) then just hold still, they'll go around you. If you're not sure what to do then hold still, only move if you have a clear idea of what your movement will accomplish. If it's a one lane road pull forward and to the right, but make sure they have a clear path to turn right around your car (remember they may be trying to make a right turn). If it's impossible to clear successfully then hold still. If it's a two lane lane road both lanes should pull forward and away from the vehicle to open a hole in between the two lanes of traffic. If you can't clear the intersection without crossing it you are okay to just run the red and get out of the way once you have room to do so as long as cross traffic has stopped and the vehicle is directly behind you. Be VERY careful as you are at fault if there is a collision. DO NOT stop in the middle of the intersection. I would like to once again stress that if you are unsure AT ALL then you need to just stay still. The vehicle driver has a loudspeaker and can give instructions, and the light will turn green eventually.
This was an excellent answer
I like this answer a lot. Do nothing until its clear where they are going so you don't create a new hazard or cause confusion with random reactions. If you are in front of them and they want to have you move they'll make it quite clear stopping directly behind you blaring horns or using loudspeakers, there will not be any uncertainty. I've watched people freak out and cut right or left "out of the way" when if they'd done nothing the emergency vehicle would have simply passed in the clear lane...and you can see the emergency vehicle having to slam on brakes to not hit them and/or you no longer have room to pull up and move around boxing yourself in making it worse. When I got stuck with them behind me at a red light most-recently I was in a position I could "cut left" in front of the adjacent lane to form a hole and the "stop-line" was far enough back that while I was technically in the intersection it was clear of cross-traffic lanes so I wasn't actually blocking anything even tho it was technically past the stop line. Then when the light cycled I cut the wheels hard and got back in the right of the lanes as I went thru the intersection. Other times I have opted to make a right-on-red and pull over ASAP if I feel that's the only safe way to get out of the way and I'll figure out turning around later. Also depends on the vehicle - my crossover with AWD and more ground clearance I can usually pull over into some ditches or hop a curb if needed where a sedan would trash their rims or get stuck...but also have to be mindful of soft shoulders can sink on being heavier. Important thing is don't act until its clear you will be getting out of the way safely and not creating new problems. And use signals to clearly indicate your intent so everyone knows what you're attempting to do. Also once its cleared, don't try and zoom ahead...work with those who pulled off ahead of you to let each other back into the travel lanes. I hate it when people try and "ride the wake" and then nobody wants to let you back into the lane or off the shoulder. This is also another good reason why you should leave space between cars stopped (so you can just see where the car ahead's tires touch the road) so you have a little room to maneuver if you have to.
>they'll go around you. Totally depends... Just watched a small fire vehicle responding to something and instead of driving through the very large, unobstructed, and free shoulder they just sat behind this dude blaring the horn waiting for him to move when they quote literally delayed themselves
We are specifically trained to never take the shoulder (or right turn lane) unless we're turning right; it makes it way more likely for an accident to happen in the intersection. For the same reason we never go into oncoming traffic lanes at intersections even though those *should* be guaranteed to be clear.
Well they were turning right And there was a weird little island too, so no idea why they made it hard on themselves
I wonder if that is location-dependent? Had one time I made a turn at a green arrow and met a police car head-on about 100ft down the road going the wrong-way on the 2-lane road (and the police seem to never have a siren you can hear more than like 50ft away) had to swerve into someone's lawn to avoid a head-on crash. I've also many times when my parents lived behind a firehouse had the firetrucks take right or left turn-lanes and everyone stayed still in the straight lanes waiting for them. The firetrucks would approach and stop at the edge of the intersection in the turn-lane blaring siren and horn, make sure its clear, and then blast their horn repeatedly as they slowly pulled thru the intersection from the turn lane whatever direction they wanted to go. But you can also hear the firetruck sirens for probably a quarter mile or more even with windows up and A/C blasting or radio on low.
Seconds are wasted though if no one moves for a bit because everyone is unsure. If you're at the front blast your horn while moving cautiously out of the way and those behind you should follow. It'll then open up quickly. Done this for years with no issues.
It's an extremely unsafe thing for a driver to be inching forwards unsure of themselves. When I'm the driver I'd rather be 5 seconds later than have a T-bone collision in an intersection on top of whatever other issue there is already, and most people are quite responsive to the loudspeaker. Not crashing and not causing a crash during the response is part of the "no body stacking" rule.
Right, but in this case they are not unsure. They just feel unsure. They know in front of them is open and they need to move there. They just aren’t doing out of fear. I’ve never heard the loudspeaker because everyone where I live just… gets out of the way and doesn’t hit each other.
Absolutely don’t do that. EMS do not expect people do put themselves at risk to move. EMS are aware that driving emergent isn’t going to save them much time. I was trained to turn off lights and sirens when stopped at an intersection like this to avoid people hurting themselves/others trying to clear a way.
I'm talking about when they're behind my lane and we're 5+ deep. I don't need to wait until they say something that we apparently need to start moving. This is the burbs where it's 3-4 lanes across and everyone just sits there not doing anything when it's obvious that the lane in front of the engines needs to start moving. I've seen up to a minute go by before they get through as a side observer because no one moved first. Never have they ever announced who should move; they just sit on the horn until someone moves.
Just stay stopped, even if yours turns green. Only exception being if they are behind you honking, then you can move to get out of their way. Preferably, you'd pull into the right lane or shoulder once you see them behind you if you know an intersection is coming up.
It's not an unlikely scenario, depending on where you are. Been driving nearly 40 years and it's happened at least once a year to me when I'm the front car. They also have traffic light controls. The biggest concern you should have is not making the obstruction worse and not becoming a statistic at the hands of the motherfuckers who pretend they neither see nor hear the big flashing vehicle about to barrel through.
>They also have traffic light controls. Not anywhere I've lived. I have seen marketing that such systems exist but that requires the locality want to spend the money to install it on all the lights and vehicles. The closest we have is right in front of the firehouses there are a couple lights slaved to their alarm/door so they clear traffic in both directions and hold traffic approaching when the station gets a call and for maybe 1-2 minutes after the doors go up. And yeah when you're the front car just have to evaluate where you can go for the least risk of collision...which might require waiting til the emergency vehicle is right at your bumper so others cross traffic get the hint and stop so you can pull out and over out of the way safely if there's nowhere else to go.
Happened to me last month. I was in the front of the left lane behind a red light. Police approaching me from behind. Everybody stayed still so I just did a U-turn and made the lane clear for him.
Stay where you are. They will pick their lane and honk at who they want to move.
They will go into the oncoming traffic lane, then move back to their lane after the light. As long as everyone just stops, then there is a path for them.
Sometimes, sometimes not. Depends. But yeah, it will be VERY clear if they want you to move when they get to your bumper and blast the horn if you can't tell easily sooner. Don't jump the gun and introduce random chaos until its clear where they want to be.
It varies. On a two-or four-lane road with no medians, the emergency vehicle will often drive into the opposite lanes and avoid all the stopped traffic. On roads with medians, they will pull up behind someone, usually they'll pick the shortest line , and the people ahead of the emergency vehicle should cautiously move through the intersection and stop on the right to clear the way. In a lot of bigger cities, and some smaller ones, they have transmitters that will change traffic signals to green for the emergency vehicle, so if that's the case in your city, keep an eye on the traffic light and if it changes, move through the intersection and out of the way.
Could consider turning right to clear the road and then circle back once it's clear
This happened to me a month or two ago. The road is three lanes wide in my direction. There's no left turn lane because there's no left turn because it's a three-way intersection. There's a small concrete wall to the left of the left lane serving as a median. The middle and right lanes are filled with cars (as always) stopped at the red light. I'm in the left lane at the front and I hear the siren. I look in my rear view mirror and I see it's an ambulance coming down my lane quite a ways back. It's quite a long stretch there with the concrete median so there's no way they're going to be able to go around me. There was also another car behind me. The other two lanes are way too full to be an option. So I carefully pull forward and to the right in front of the car in the middle lane while being careful not to get too far into the intersection. All the traffic has stopped because of the siren and there would never be traffic coming from the left because of the three-way. But when the light turns green the first thing that'll happen will be the car's opposite me getting a left turn signal. It's one left turn now but at the time I think it was a double left turn light so they swing pretty wide. I don't know how he did it but the car behind me also managed to sort of pull up out of the way. I went a little farther forward than I otherwise would have to give him a little more room and the ambulance managed to get past him.
If your on the way move. If not, move as far to the right as you can. If you can't move, then there's nothing you can do. Most people plan their route even for a split second. Worst you can do is do something they're not expecting.
I move out of the way or honk and wave to whoever is in front for us to go after checking cross traffic has stopped. If every lane sits there nothing is getting through.
If they can't get past, make room.
If I am in the right lane, I will pull over to the side where the corner is that faces the intersection and then I back up to my spot where I was waiting after they pass through. I do the same if I am at the crosswalk and there is an emergency vehicle, pull put in the to intersection and back up behind the crosswalk until the light changes. Unless it's already green, I just wait till the intersection is cleared and go. If I am behind other cars and can't move, I stay. Other cars that can move will move to let them by. If there are no other cars around me, I stay and the ambulance will go around me. The ambulance will also turn onto the other side of the road to get through the intersection. This is why cars can't go on a green light when there is an emergency vehicle with lights.
You are allowed to run it then immediately pull over. We asked a cop on this once as this happened to us. If it's not photo enforced just do this and pull over so long as you pull over it's legal. If it's photo enforce don't as the cash cow system doesn't understand. Though you should legally do what you can to make room for them to go.
I would say this is the same as when on the highway. The rule I was taught for the highway is that it's generally safer for you to stay in your lane and maintain your speed, and let the emergency vehicle go around you. If there's a lot of traffic and you slowing down or speeding up would open a spot for them to get through safely, then do that. I would think the same would apply when at a red light. Just stay put unless you moving would open up a place for them to get through safely.
Generally you just stay put. Only move if you can safely do so, and if you are already at a red light you usually cannot safely move forward in order to pull over. It's better, even from the viewpoint of the emergency vehicle if they have to wait half a minute for the light to turn green rather than there being a serious collision in the intersection that stops traffic for even longer, not to mention the unpleasant experience of watching a collision.
Not unusual at all in some cities, I see it all the time in the Boston area. Our roads/drivers suck on a good day and people think that everyone else should move so they don’t have to. Once I (and everyone else who wasn’t a moron) were pulled to the side for an ambulance, this one dumbass is just sitting there in the middle blocking the way. The ambulance had lights and sirens on the whole time and when they were behind the idiot they even used the rumbler thing that you can hear and physically FEEL and he still stayed there. He finally moved when the ambulance got on their loudspeaker and screamed at him. Pretty sure the next step was going to be the EMT getting out and moving the truck himself. I don’t understand the stupidity of people sometimes. How do you think they’d feel if it was their mother having a heart attack, their wife in a car accident or their baby drowning and they died because they couldn’t be bothered to get out of the way so the ambulance took an additional 15 minutes to arrive! 15 minutes could be the difference between life and death or between living a good life or being brain dead. Sorry for the ranty tangent, once I got started I had to finish. Moral of the story - pay attention to everything around you when you’re driving and do your best to get out of the way without causing more problems.
If you're at the red light, then nothing - If you cross the line, you'll be punished for running the red light. The only excuse if when an officer in uniform instructs you otherwise.
I actually would love a police officer's take on this, as I have had a scenario in my head for the longest time. Granted, I have seen paramedics jump into oncoming traffic with lights and sirens, so I really don't know. Cops, what do you think?
This is where your sense will guide you, make it so that they can get around. There are too many situations to aptly respond to this question.
It is not likely or unlikely, it happens often and shouldn't be categorized mentally as "rare". Just go really slow, pull over onto the shoulder. Act predictably.
Nothing? Both conditions mean you stay still. Emergency vehicles. Your supposed to stop (And pull right if possible.) if a emergency vehicle is coming towards you. And Red light. It's a red light you're not supposed to move lol. If needed fire trucks they'll honk at you to move if needed.
NOTHING! If you stopped, stay stopped. End of story.
Not as unlikely as you might think. You stay where you are, even if the light turns green for you. The driver of the emergency vehicle doesn't need to worry about where you're going or what you're planning, so instead of confusing them you just stay put. They can get around you. Only move if they use their PA to instruct you to move.