A recent incident has emergency responders reminding motorists in Regina to move over when an emergency vehicle approaches with its lights or sirens on.
A driver in Regina recently received a $125 ticket, after Constable Curtis Warnar was stuck behind a vehicle travelling 30km/h for a whole minute, while he was responding to a two-vehicle collision with injuries. Warnar activated his lights and sirens, but the vehicle failed to move.
Another day of pleading with drivers. Pull to the RIGHT for sirens and lights. I was responding to a 2 vehicle collision with injuries. 60 full seconds of this driver continuing to drive 30 km/h in front of me. Received a $125 for not moving over @reginapolice #MoveOver pic.twitter.com/W4QoJR8U1p
— Cst. Curtis Warnar (@RPSTrafficUnit) August 1, 2018
"The driver panicked and said, 'I have no idea what I’m supposed to do,' and that's completely unacceptable,” Warnar said.
Warnar says being stuck behind vehicles while responding to an emergency happens all too often.
"Fight, flight or freeze is what your body naturally goes through, and more often than not with traffic for whatever reason, it's freeze,” said Warnar. “It’s a simple thing; all you have to do is move your car two or three metres to the right and get out of our way. Let us go do what we need to do,”
The rules are clear; all emergency vehicles have the right of way when displaying flashing lights and using sirens. If a vehicle approaches you with lights or sirens engaged, you must immediately drive as closely as possible to the right edge of the road and not enter the next intersection until the emergency vehicle has passed.
On one-way streets, pull right or left to the nearest curb. Don't go over 60km/h when passing emergency vehicles pulled over on the highway and never follow a responder going to, or coming from, an emergency.
"Emergency vehicles might be traveling the speed limit. They might be going through an intersection contrary to a red light and you as a regular driver are not entitled to do that under the law,” said SGI media relations manager Tyler McMurchy.
The Regina Fire Department says "it is a problem for us. People don't know what to do when an emergency vehicle comes up behind them with lights and sirens." They added that it slows down their response time.
"Get out of the way. Make sure it's safe. Don't start driving all over the place,” said Constable Warnar.
