North Dakota driving lesson · Right-of-Way & Speed
Emergency vehicles & school buses
A 3-minute lesson from the North Dakota course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Flashing lights change your plans. For a moving emergency vehicle, you pull right and stop. For one parked at a scene, you slow down and move over. For a school bus with flashing red lights, you stop, whichever direction you're coming from.
When an emergency or law enforcement vehicle is flashing red, white or blue lights or sounding a siren, stop immediately along the right-hand curb or edge of the road. Stay stopped until it has passed. Don't stop in the middle of an intersection.
When an emergency or law enforcement vehicle is parked at a crash scene with lights flashing, drive to the right-hand side of the road and stop. Once stopped, you may pass at your own risk when the road is clear.
On the Interstate or a multilane highway, if an emergency vehicle, law enforcement vehicle, or NDDOT maintenance vehicle is parked with emergency or work lights flashing, move over to the opposite lane and proceed with due caution.
A school bus with yellow caution lights may use them to warn that it's about to stop and the red lights will soon come on. Be especially alert every time you see a school bus.
On a two-lane road, a school bus coming toward you stops with red lights flashing. You must stop too, even in the opposite lane. Wait until the bus starts moving, the driver signals you to pass, or the red lights stop.
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.
When an emergency vehicle approaches with flashing lights and siren, what should you do?
Stop along the right-hand curb or edge of the road and remain stopped until it passes
Pull to the left side of the road
Continue driving at the same speed
Speed up to clear the area quickly
Answer: Stop along the right-hand curb or edge of the road and remain stopped until it passes
You must immediately stop along the right-hand curb or edge of the road and remain stopped until the emergency vehicle has passed.
When an emergency vehicle is parked at a crash scene on the Interstate with lights flashing, what should you do?
Stay in the next lane and keep your speed
Move over to the opposite lane with due caution
Turn on your hazard lights and stop in your lane
Pass at normal highway speed
Answer: Move over to the opposite lane with due caution
If an emergency, law enforcement, or NDDOT maintenance vehicle is parked on the Interstate or a multilane highway with lights flashing, move over to the opposite lane and proceed with due caution.
What must drivers do when a school bus is stopped with flashing red lights, approaching from either direction on a two-lane road?
Stop only if children are visible outside the bus
Slow down but continue past cautiously
Stop until the bus moves or signals you on
Stop only if approaching from behind the bus
Answer: Stop until the bus moves or signals you on
Drivers approaching from both directions must stop for a school bus with flashing red lights and may not proceed until the bus moves, the driver signals, or the lights stop flashing.