Stopping For Emergency Vehicles

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  • #591048
    happyOOTer
    Participant

    OK, I have a question. I am a relatively new transplant from the midwest to the east coast (Greater NYC area). When I was studying for my driver’s license (cough) decade(s) ago, I learned that you pull over and STOP when you hear/see an emergency vehicle with its lights on and sirens going, even if it’s coming from the other direction. And people actually do that where I’m from…

    So, what is the deal with people here who just keep on keeping on? Are the laws different here, or is this an east coast thing? I have actually been honked at for stopping!! (The honking is ridiculous here too)

    #671626
    oomis
    Participant

    Let ’em honk!!!! The law is the law. And if you do NOT stop, pull over, and yield, you can get a moving violation. In the case of the school bus, even if you are on a DIVIDED road (think Park Avenue) and the bus is across the street but with red flashers and stop sign, you MUST legally stop. I am not certain if that holds true for the ambulance or not, but it would make sense to me that ALL vehicles need to pull over to the side until the ambulance passes, because it might need to go into the “wrong” lane, in order to miove through the traffic much faster. Whatever you do, do not let an impatient fool honking at you, convince you to break the law. The law is in place for reasons of safety.

    #671627
    smartcookie
    Member

    Thank you everyone for saying what I’m saying for years.

    I was in a car service yesterday with a hatzalah behind me. Instead of pulling over, my driver went speeding down the street to let the hatzalah fly right behind him. I didn’t think ill come out alive from that car.

    Incident #2. Today my son’s school bus stopped at my home to pick up my son. As he was walking toward the bus, a vehicle behind the bus was honking away….

    I mean this honking is so ridiculous. anyone has any idea what we can do about it? Who we need to speak to?

    I live in a busy brklyn neighborhood and hear the honking at 1am, at 6am and round the clock. I’m fed up.

    Welcome to NY is right!!

    #671628
    bombmaniac
    Participant

    some guy on my block was leaning on his horn one night…i went over to his car…had him roll down his window…and told him to get a life

    #671629
    smartcookie
    Member

    So to all of you: Can we tackle this nonsense together? What do we need to do?

    #671630
    oomis
    Participant

    bombmaniac, B”H this was not some nutjob with a gun. Some people will deliberately drive well below the speed limit ahead of you, and hog the road, to elicit a reaction from you. They are spoiling for a fight. When I see someone like that, I try to get onto a different block. The confrontation is NOT worth it with someone that inconsiderate. He probably has a screw loose somewhere.

    #671631
    mom12
    Participant

    Welcome to NY is right-

    but when I was in Israel that really got me!

    there was an ambulance coming down Rabi Akiva and the light was red..well guess what

    NOBODY moved..didn’t even try. There wasnt too much traffic-the cars were able to move

    I could not understand…

    #671632
    mybat
    Member

    You think NY driving is bad?? You haven’t seen bad driving like I have… People don’t let ambulances through, fight with school buses, drive at 100kmh on residential avenues and escape from the cops on daily basis!

    #671633
    anonymrs
    Participant

    i dont know the law in NY bacause i took my test in another state and just transfered my license, but when/where i took my test, the law was that if there is some type of median in the middle you do NOT have to stop for a bus on the other side, flashing lights or not.

    #671634
    tamazaball
    Member

    ive also been honked at but i move anyway and most cars follow my example.

    #671635
    oomis
    Participant

    The NY State law is that even with a median, if there is a flashing red light school bus stopped ALL traffic must stop. My friend learned this the hard way when she was ticketed for passing a school bus with red flashers, the equivalent of two small blocks across from her (traffic in either direction was divided by a median and each side of the median was the size of a three lane highway). She tried to fight the ticket only to learn that she was in the wrong.

    As to the ambulance – if the persons not allowing it to pass were to discover that their loved one died in the ambulance because it could not get to the hospital in time, they would feel very sorry. We have to think of every ambulance in that way, and maybe we won’t be so thoughtless AND BREAK THE LAW.

    #671636
    mom12
    Participant

    mybat-u talking about Israel as well or someplace else?

    anonymrs- the law in NY, to stop in all directions, is fairly new

    oncoming traffic did not have to stop (unless the bus stopped diagonally and blocked traffic). but it seems there were many accidents that it was put into law. when a bus has its flashing lights on or the stop sign u must stop in all directions-Its really not a bad law if drivers would obey…

    I saw too many ‘almosts’…

    #671637
    smartcookie
    Member

    MOM12: and I’ve unfortunaltely heard of too many tragedies caused by cars running over a child getting off the school bus. You see a bus stop sign- STOP!

    #671638
    mybat
    Member

    Mom12

    Mexico

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