Virginia driving lesson · Visibility & Hazardous Conditions
Emergency Vehicles & Stopped Vehicles
A 3-minute lesson from the Virginia course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Vehicles with flashing blue, red, amber (yellow) or white lights call for specific actions. Moving emergency vehicles need a clear path; stopped ones, along with tow trucks, trash trucks and cars with hazards on, need room so the people beside them stay safe.
Know the rule
Police, fire, rescue or ambulance approaching from behind with siren, flashing lights or both: immediately yield. Safely pull to the right edge of the road and stop until it passes.
An emergency vehicle approaching in the opposite lane on an undivided highway: pull to the edge of the road and stop until it passes. These pull-over rules do not apply in highway work zones.
Stationary emergency vehicle or tow truck with flashing lights on a highway: proceed with caution and, if reasonable and safe, change to a lane not next to it. If you can't change lanes safely, slow down and proceed with caution.
On a two-lane road posted 45 MPH, a trash truck is stopped collecting. You can't change lanes, so slow to 35 MPH (10 below the limit) and pass at least two feet to its left.
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.
On a highway with fewer than four lanes, how should you pass a stationary trash collection vehicle if you cannot change lanes?
Maintain your speed and pass as close as possible
Stop completely until the vehicle moves
Slow to 10 MPH below the posted speed limit and pass at least two feet to the left
Pass on the right at normal speed
Answer: Slow to 10 MPH below the posted speed limit and pass at least two feet to the left
If you can't change lanes, slow to 10 MPH below the posted limit and pass at least two feet to the left of the vehicle.