Colorado driving lesson · Lane Controls & Right-of-Way
Emergency vehicles, plows, buses & work zones
A 3-minute lesson from the Colorado course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Some vehicles always get priority: emergency vehicles, working maintenance equipment, plows, school buses and transit buses. Many of these rules come with exact speeds and distances.
Know the rule
Yield to emergency vehicles using a siren, air horn and/or flashing red, blue, white or yellow lights. Where possible, pull to the right edge and stop.
Passing an emergency vehicle stopped beside the road, try to leave at least one lane between you. If you can't change lanes, slow to a safe speed and pass with care.
Snow plows can hide in their own clouds of blowing snow. It's illegal to pass an authorized snow plow working in a formation where the plows are staggered diagonally.
Stop for a school bus with flashing red lights on your side, the opposite side or at an intersection you're approaching, and stay stopped until the lights stop flashing.
On a 65 mph highway, a patrol car is stopped on the shoulder with lights flashing, and traffic keeps you from changing lanes. Slow to 45 mph, 20 under the limit, and pass with care.
Check your understanding
Read the question, decide on an answer, then open it to check the explanation. These are Roadwise study questions based on the source handbook.
If the posted speed limit is 40 mph and you're approaching a stopped emergency vehicle with lights flashing, how slow should you go if you can't change lanes?
30 mph
35 mph
The posted 40 mph
25 mph
Answer: 25 mph
Under the emergency-vehicle rule on page 14, if the posted limit is 45 mph or less and you can't move over, slow to 25 mph.