Can I move through a red light to allow an emergency vehicle past me?
I recently stopped at a red light and saw in my mirror an emergency vehicle with flashing lights approaching in my lane. I knew that I should move out of his path but that would entail crossing the stop line to move into the right hand lane. I was lucky in this instance that the emergency vehicle swapped to the lane on my left and turned off, so I didn't need to take any action, but what is the correct course of action in such a situation and was the law ever clarified on this point?
Asked on 14 July 2012 by MB, Guildford
Answered by
Honest John
Yes. You can only move through a red light if commanded to do so by a police officer in uniform. That police officer might be in a police car. But you cannot legally go through a red light to get out of the way of any other emergency vehicle such as a fire engine, ambulance or paramedic’s car. Ridiculous, but true.
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