New road rule: Slow down when passing parked emergency services vehicles or be fined
 

RCMP reminded the public Friday that a new traffic law will force drivers to slow down to below the speed limit when passing an emergency vehicle stopped on the side of the road.


Beginning June 1, drivers must slow to 70 km/h on highways where the speed limit is 80 km/h or higher, and to 40 km/h where the limit is below 80 km/h, when approaching a stopped emergency vehicle that has its lights flashing, according to an RCMP statement.


Also, when passing an emergency vehicle on a road with two or more lanes, drivers must use the far left lane.


The law is meant to protect emergency personnel who leave themselves susceptible to being hit by passing vehicles.


The law was created during the tenure of now former Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General John van Dongen who resigned from the cabinet position after his driver's licence was lifted for two excessive speeding tickets.


“Too often, these workers face near-misses, injury or even death – directly due to the carelessness of passing drivers," van Dongen said in the statement.


In addition to fire, ambulance, and police vehicles, the law includes protection for other emergency service employees like vehicle inspectors, conservation officers, and utility workers.


A fine of three penalty points against one's licence and a $148 ticket will be issued to those caught not obeying the new law.


Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Kevin Falcon said the law follows other jurisdictions that have done the same thing to protect emergency workers.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Should've been law long ago. Countless times I've seen people zoom excessively fast past the emergency crew and their vehicles while they attended to their duties.

I've also seen people tailgating emergency vehicles right after after pulling over for them, thinking "oh cool emergency crew yay lets follow and let them clear the way for me!"..

sigh.

Great. More fucking gridlock. So cops pull over someone for speeding, driving in the HOV lane etc, etc and everyone on the fucking hwy has to suffer as a result? Do you know how impractical it will be for all traffic to switch to the far left lane on a busy hwy?

Doesn't it make sense to do this anyway? I know I always slow down when I pass a pulled over police car or ambulance. I don't want to run over some poor cop or paramedic.

Seems pretty normal LOL...

sounds fine to me as long as there's also a fine for cops who stop in places where they don't absolutely HAVE to.

Everyone always slows down to rubber neck anyhow. This is just going to give them more of an excuse, and probably cause more accidents.

Codified common-sense.

yeah, isnt it common sense to do that anyways? what was the previous law in place? speed up when passing an emergency vehicle???

Thanks for the heads up. Does it count when the cop car is on the roadside trying to catch speeders and I just go by at posted speed limits? I mean....you ARE trying to be stealth here right?

Emergency personnel have side mirrors and eyes too...

ya, its something I've been doing ever since I got my license. but you know what they say about common sense, that it isn't that common.

I never see people speeding by Emergency vehicles. They slow down,get nosy, and watch like a snail. They have a better chance of rear ending someone than hitting a emergency vehicle.

the biggest problem is when traffic happens.

you ever try to pull over on broadway during rush hour when you see emergency vehicles coming east AND west? its impossible, and then there are those that freak out at the sound and sight of an ambulance, cop, firetruck and all they do is freeze right in the middle of the road.

fix the congestion to give some room so you CAN even pull over.

Fine, protect their ass while working on the side of the road but what about tow truck drivers with their lights on? The law should apply to them too.

And I've said it a million times: Ticket the bloody left lane blockers!!!

Makes perfect sense... most considerate drivers already do it. But it seems careful and considerate drivers are becoming fewer and further between on BC roads nowadays...

I've always done this.

It's already the law in other provinces and it's simple common sense here.

This is a good thing!

unfortunately, it's quite uncommon sense. otherwise they wouldn't have to make a new law over it.

While I do this anyways... how are they gonna ticket this?
Just say "this law was not in place when I got my license and I didnt know about it".

I'm pretty sure at first they will just be giving out warnings.

^^^ ignorance of law is not a defence in court.

but yes, the police might or might not give out warnings the first month or so. but again, it's up the discretion of the officer whether or not to give out a warning or to issue you a ticket.

you'd be surprised how many people carelessly whip by, but yes then you get rubber necks that have to see what is going on... if i'm stuck on traffic control i'm either waving people to slow the hell down that are still above the posted limit or to get them moving more than 20kms/hr so there isn't more to deal with.

I don't see how they'd enforce this anyway.
If I go at my normal speed past a cop who has pulled some1 over on the side of the road, is he really gonna drop everything he's doing and quickly jump in his car and come pull me over? I highly doubt it...

they do this in alberta

True, looking at some of the responses here, there are still a lot of dumbfuck drivers out there who need to be forced into having some common sense.

My understanding is that in Alberta & other provinces, the fine is based on the speed you are doing when you didn't slow down. HUGE fines in the multi-hundreds of dollars...here it's just like a basic speeding ticket.

As one who has had to jump out of the way of speeding vehicles many times, I welcome this new law. Just wished the fine was higher. 2 of the guys I worked with were hit by idiot drivers ( they both lived) and several others had to bail at the last moment. Truckers used to see how close they could get so that the vacuum would suck your hat off.