Yielding To Emergency Vehicles
Posted by Lee Akers (+269) 13 years ago
Yesterday afternoon, I was traveling west on Leighton. I saw a group of slow moving vehicles coming east. Behind them was a volunteer fireman on his way to a fire. He had all his red lights, in the windshield, and in the grill burning. I pulled over, as required by law, but the people in front of him just kept driving blithely along.

Friends, the law requires that you yield to emergency vehicles. It doesn't matter what the vehicle looks like. It could be a big red, white, or yellow fire engine, a white, or black and white police car, or a vehicle of any color or size. WHEN YOU SEE A RED LIGHT ON AN ONCOMING, OR OVERTAKING VEHICLE, YOU IMMEDIATELY PULL TO THE RIGHT AND STOP!!!

Peoples lives and property are on the line. It doesn't matter if you like some particular agency or not. It doesn't matter what you think. When you see red lights, PULL OVER AND STOP.

It doesn't matter if you don't hear a siren. Sirens are not authorized in Montana. Red (or blue) lights blinking means that vehicle is an on-duty emergency vehicle. You are required to pullover and stop. Period.
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Posted by Steve Allison (+979) 13 years ago
When my parents were first married, over 60 years ago, they moved to San Francisco. At that time if you did not get out of an emergency vehicles way, they dented or scrapped your car. When you complained, you got a ticket and had to pay for the repairs on the emergency vehicle. I am NOT saying this is a good idea or that it is even legal anymore, just trying to illustrate how important it is to get out of the way anyway possible. At one time this was allowed to force people to do the right thing.
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Posted by David Schott (+18752) 13 years ago
Lee Akers wrote:
It doesn't matter if you don't hear a siren. Sirens are not authorized in Montana. Red (or blue) lights blinking means that vehicle is an on-duty emergency vehicle.

Montana Code Annotated 2009

61-9-402. Audible and visual signals on police, emergency vehicles, and on-scene command vehicles -- immunity.

(1) A police vehicle must be equipped with a siren capable of giving an audible signal and may be equipped with alternately flashing or rotating red or blue lights as specified in this section.
(2) An authorized emergency vehicle must be equipped:
(a) with a siren
and an alternately flashing or rotating red light as specified in this section; and

(b) with signal lamps mounted as high and as widely spaced laterally as practicable that are capable of displaying to the front two alternately flashing red lights located at the same level and to the rear two alternately flashing red lights located at the same level. These lights must have sufficient intensity to be visible at 500 feet in normal sunlight.
(3) A bus used for the transportation of school children must be equipped with signal lamps mounted as high and as widely spaced laterally as practicable, displaying to the front two red and two amber alternating flashing lights and to the rear two red and two amber alternating flashing lights. These lights must have sufficient intensity to be visible at 500 feet in normal sunlight. The warning lights must be as prescribed by the board of public education and approved by the department.
(4) A police vehicle and an authorized emergency vehicle may, and an emergency service vehicle must, be equipped with alternately flashing or rotating amber lights as specified in this section.
(5) The use of signal equipment as described in this section imposes upon the operators of other vehicles the obligation to yield right-of-way or to stop and to proceed past the signal or light as provided in 61-8-346 and subject to the provisions of 61-8-209 and 61-8-303.
(6) An employee, agent, or representative of the state or a political subdivision of the state or of a governmental fire agency organized under Title 7, chapter 33, who is operating a police vehicle, an authorized emergency vehicle, or an emergency service vehicle and using signal equipment in rendering assistance at a highway crash scene or in response to any other hazard on the roadway that presents an immediate hazard or an emergency or life-threatening situation is not liable, except for willful misconduct, bad faith, or gross negligence, for injuries, costs, damages, expenses, or other liabilities resulting from a motorist operating a vehicle in violation of subsection (5).
(7) Blue, red, and amber lights required in this section must be mounted as high as and as widely spaced laterally as practicable and be capable of displaying to the front two alternately flashing lights of the specified color located at the same level and to the rear two alternately flashing lights of the specified color located at the same level or one rotating light of the specified color, mounted as high as is practicable and visible from both the front and the rear. These lights must have sufficient intensity to be visible at 500 feet in normal sunlight. Except as provided in 61-9-204(6), only police vehicles, as defined in 61-8-102, may display blue lights, lenses, or globes.
(8) A police vehicle and authorized emergency vehicle may be equipped with a flashing signal lamp that is green in color, visible from 360 degrees, and attached to the exterior roof of the vehicle for purposes of designation as the on-scene command and control vehicle in an emergency or disaster. The green light must have sufficient intensity to be visible at 500 feet in normal sunlight. Only the on-scene command and control vehicle may display green lights, lenses, or globes.
(9) Only a police vehicle or an authorized emergency vehicle may be equipped with the means to flash or alternate its headlamps or its backup lights.
(10) A violation of subsection (5) is considered reckless endangerment of a highway worker, as provided in 61-8-301(4), and is punishable as provided in 61-8-715.

http://data.opi.mt.gov/bi...-9-402.htm
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Posted by K.Duffy (+1818) 13 years ago
I hope this isn't hijacking a thread ~ but about a week ago, I was driving North on the 900 block of S. Earling. There is an ambulance sitting close to the group home, not quite pulled over to the curb, with it's yellow lights flashing. I wasn't sure of the protocol: do I go around it, or stop a distance behind? I can see the driver sitting in the ambulance, and he's not waving me past, so I wait. Meanwhile, someone is changing a tire for a young lady beside my vehicle. Turns out, it was another member of the ambulance crew! I don't have a beef with the fact they had been assisting a damsel in distress just think they could have flagged me on

So, are you supposed to stop when the lights are flashing yellow, or just 'proceed with caution' ?
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Posted by ellie may (+466) 13 years ago
how would you feel if your loved one was in that ambulance and needed help right away?
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Posted by Matt Smith (+792) 13 years ago
Hey Lee...I once was nearly killed by a guy racing to a fire.

I was sitting at the light by Hardesty's on main, I was trying to read a poster in the window & told my wife I am going to hop out & read it...

Just then an idiot in a red car with his light flashing passed us on the right blowing right through the light.

Ring any bells?

If I would have hopped out, you would have run me over.

Safety first for sure.
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Posted by David Schott (+18752) 13 years ago
And if you're running a red light/disobeying a traffic control device, siren please. The guy half a block down the intersecting road can't see your Starsky and Hutch light.
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