Ambulances

[djkeev]

Okay,On a divided highway with two or more lanes, such as an interstate or major State highway, tonight was on Rt 18 through the shopping areas of New Brunswick and areas South. 3 lanes of traffic each way with traffic lights.There is an ambulance in the left lane, lights going and whenever he gets to a red light turns on the siren and runs the light. Law states that you pull over and stop for the vehicle to pass you. BUT.....The speed limit is 45, traffic is flowing between the lights (a generous distance) at 50 - 55 as an average. The ambulance is doing about 42 in the far left lane!! Is it legal to pass him? Is he doing anything illegal? If you pass him are you subject to a ticket and if so should a wall of cars be forced to follow him at 42 MPH?What ended up happening is most cars passed him (including myself) in the far right lane and hoped to get a distance ahead before the next light and stay out of the left lane if you did have to stop for he was coming up behind you with siren blaring.I've only had this happen twice in over three decades of driving and am still confused as to what is the proper thing to do. Most often if a siren and flashing lights come up behind they are in a HURRY !!My guess it was routine transport to the medical center in New Brunswick but why the lights, why so slow, why the left lane?Just curious if anyone has an answer to this.So what do you do??? In over 35 years of driving I've only encountered this twice (this evening being the 2nd time)

[ehoff121]

I'm not an ambulance driver, but the left lane is the passing lane, right?According to http://www.njtrafficlawcenter.com/emerg_vehi.htm:A driver is guilty of a point violation if he fails to yield the right of way to any authorized vehicle when it is operated on official business in response to an emergency call, or in the pursuant of an actual or suspected violation of the law. In order for a violation to occur, the emergency vehicle must give an audible signal, and the emergency vehicle must be equipped with at least one red light visible from at least 500 feet. The fines are $202. Moreover, a driver will be assessed two points.Pulling Over and Stopping For Emergency VehiclesNew Jersey law requires all motorists to yield to emergency vehicles sounding sirens or flashing red and/or blue emergency lights. Steer to the extreme right of the roadway and stop. Wait for the emergency vehicle to pass. After, keep at least 300 feet behind an emergency vehicle responding to an emergency call.--------------------------By passing the ambulance, you are not keeping "at least 300 feet behind" it.If a NJ State Trooper was around, he'd have had you for both failing to yield and speeding.That's a lot of points...

[ou.grizzly]

Pull over and let em by.

[northvibe]

yes pull over and let them by. I dont think they drive crazy because of the condition of patient inside, or because thats a heavy vehicle and since they are driving through traffic, sounds fairly heavy traffic too. they cant stop fast so if they were going too fast and had to brake quick they would probably cause an accident.

[joatmon]

I just let them get in front and then follow them, even if they are doing udner the speed limit. They've got enough to worry about. Who knows what they are carrying, maybe someone in such a critically delicate state that fast stops and starts would kill the patient. Even when it's going slow, and inconvenient, remember the golden rule, think about what you would want other drivers to do it if you were seriously messed up and being driven by ambulance to a hospital for emergency care.

[Kari]

This is an interesting question, because ambulance and other emergency vehicle laws were likely written with the assumption that the vehicle would be traveling faster than the speed limit. In this case, they were traveling slightly slower than the speed limit, thus creating the situation where most of the traffic was traveling at the same speed as or faster than the ambulance.If it was enough of an emergency for them to run red lights, they could have at least sped up to 50 or so, in order to avoid a traffic jam. I'm not sure what is "right" in this instance, since you could pull over to let them pass and then eventually end up catching back up to them from behind. Not a situation you usually end up in with an emergency vehicle.