Q: I was driving north on a road with two lanes in either direction plus a center turn lane. A fire truck was headed south with emergency lights on. All south bound traffic was yielding to the right of the road, stopping until emergency vehicle had passed, and then continuing on their way south. Suddenly, drivers in both northbound lanes came to a complete stop to wait for the emergency vehicle in the south lane to pass. My question in this scenario: does the northbound traffic have to yield in this manner to southbound emergency vehicles?
A: A few years ago I had the opportunity to visit China. I was working for an education company, so naturally we visited some schools. While on a university campus I recall seeing a dozen or so empty basketball courts, while in an open space right next to the courts at least 50 people, each balancing a ball on a racket, moved in unison following a leader, executing what looked like a mix between tai chi and tennis exercises. I later learned that I had been watching taiji bailong ball, also called roliball. It struck me that if this same campus was in the United States, I probably would have seen the basketball courts full of players, each making their own moves, while the roliball field was most likely empty. If you’re wondering where I’m going with this, stay with me.
Nearly every driver conceptually knows to pull over for emergency vehicles; it’s just when we apply it to real life that we discover that we don’t exactly understand what to do. Slow down? Come to a complete stop? Pull over for an oncoming emergency vehicle, or just when it’s coming up behind? What about multi-lane roads? Or the freeway? To quote Yogi Berra, “In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice there is.”
To help us with better practice, we have a law called “Operation of vehicles on approach of emergency vehicles.” Here are the key points, somewhat simplified: When an emergency vehicle using lights and siren approaches, drivers shall:
- Yield the right of way
- Immediately drive to the right edge of the roadway (clear of any intersection)
- Stop and remain stopped until the emergency vehicle has passed
At this point I should define “roadway.” There’s a long legal definition, but it essentially includes everything from fog line to fog line. From that definition you can see that the law requires stopping for emergency vehicles approaching from the opposite direction on multi-lane roads.
Why does the opposite direction have to stop? I didn’t ask any of the legislators who crafted this law their underlying motivation, so instead I have an unsubstantiated theory. (But I think it’s pretty good.) As drivers we don’t know where that emergency vehicle is headed. Maybe it’ll keep going straight, but it could be headed for the driveway 50 yards in front of me. By stopping we eliminate a lot of potential conflict in a high-speed, elevated risk situation. Emergency responders face a lot of risks in their work, but the biggest risk is still driving.
There is, because of the definition of a roadway, one scenario where you don’t have to stop for an oncoming emergency vehicle; when the opposing lanes are separated by a physical barrier, like on the freeway. In this case, each direction of travel is, by law, considered a separate roadway.
Even though it wasn’t part of the original question I’d like to address the third bullet point above. I’ve seen plenty of drivers yield, move right and slow down for emergency vehicles, but not stop, and sometimes even pass the vehicles that have stopped. Maybe you think you’re going slow enough, so it’s no big deal. Allow me to use a likely too-simple analogy. If you were in the ring getting dominated by Muhammed Ali in his prime, would you want him to slow down, or stop? A mix of some vehicles slowing down while others stop has Ali-potential for damage and injury.
Driving is a lot less like basketball, where players decide their own moves based on how the play around us unfolds, and more like roliball, where we each move together in unison, taking the lead from the rule of law. That’s especially the case when we need to respond quickly to an unexpected situation, like an approaching emergency vehicle. In America we love competitive sports, but when it comes to driving, we could take a lesson from cultures that prize collaboration in their games.