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Encountering emergency vehicles

You're driving peacefully and listening to your favourite song on the radio suddenly you hear the blaring siren of an approaching emergency vehicle. You're flustered. What do you do? Swerve into the next corner, jam the brakes or start speeding so that it's still a long time before the emergency vehicle can overtake you. Many of us have been faced with such dilemma. Making that split second decision about how to react during such a crisis can be difficult. Do you stay where you are and potentially block the progress of an emergency vehicle? Or do you move into a position that may put you or other road users at risk?

Unfortunately, some drivers overreact to emergency service vehicles that have their red lights flashing and sirens blaring. This is often because in a place like India they don't hear or see the emergency vehicle until it is very close, and then suddenly when they hear the siren or see the emergency vehicle in their rear view mirror they take drastic action to get out of the way.

Don't panic and just brake. Considering it's natural to apply brakes instinctively in front of an emergency vehicle, it isn't of much help really. What it does is it slows the progress of the emergency vehicle and jeopardises other road users.

Use your brains. Think about where you are on the road. You should deal with the problem in the same way that you deal with any other driving emergency.

Observe and plan: what is the safest option available to you? Do remember that you must place safety first and if need be you must sacrifice everything for safety, but never sacrifice safety for anything else — not even facilitating the progress of the emergency service vehicle.

Don't cross red traffic lights or speed to get out of the way. This can have disastrous effects. The emergency vehicle driver has loads of experience dealing with situations, which you don't. Zebra crossings and signals can pose problems but act calmly and do not panic.

If you are moving it may well be that you can continue at a reasonable pace and the emergency vehicle can follow you out of a pocket of congestion. In that scenario, attempting to pull over too soon, or slow down, might just cause a needless obstruction and hamper the progress of the emergency vehicle.

Indicate your intentions clearly. If you are thinking about changing lanes or pulling over, indicate this as clearly and as early as possible to the driver of the emergency vehicle so that he is able to plan his route further and head smoothly towards his destination.

Last but not the least, get out of the way as soon as you can safely.

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