Emergency Vehicles

Fire trucks have a special privilege granted to no other emergency vehicle in British Columbia. You must not follow them within 150 meters or 500 feet unless you are also driving an emergency vehicle. Having never been a firefighter I was curious and thought that I would ask the experts and find out why this rule exists.

I used to smile when I saw closely spaced traffic, a large gap, a police vehicle, another large gap and finally more closely spaced traffic. Everyone is afraid of the cop I thought. Having spent 25 years driving a marked police vehicle I recognize both that I rarely see this anymore and that it was a wise thing to do. Police vehicles often make unexpected starts, stops and turns.

The tow truck is a bit of an orphan when it comes to being an "official vehicle" as defined in our slow down, move over laws. Drivers happening across a tow truck working at the side of the highway must slow down and move over if possible just as they would for an overtaken police vehicle, fire apparatus or ambulance. The latter three types of vehicle are easily identified by the colour of their flashing lights but the tow truck blends in with all the other flashing yellow light equipped vehicles on our highways.

Not much has changed since this law dictated what drivers passing emergency vehicles on the shoulder of the road must do in 2009. Drivers still fail to slow down and move over when possible, putting the safety of emergency workers at unnecessary risk. Our provincial Learn to Drive Smart guide speaks of the See, Think, Do method, and that's exactly what is needed in these situations.

“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.

I have a question relating to ambulances. When an ambulance is parked, not in a emergency situation, do they have the right to park anywhere they want to even though they are parked illegally??

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.

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!