Effective March 1st, Lakeland drivers will need to obey new rules when passing emergency vehicles on highways.
On a multi-lane road, when a vehicle is stopped with its flashing lights on all traffic traveling in the same direction must reduce their speed to 60 km/h or the speed limit whatever is slower.
However, on a single-lane highway, all drivers regardless of direction must slow down to 60 km/h or the speed limit whatever is slower.
The change was passed in the Alberta Traffic Safety Amendment Act. Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority fire chief Dan Heney says this will help keep first responders safe.
“Emergency scenes can be very dynamic and there are times when emergency responders focus on traffic is lost so we need the public to help us out and watch out.”
Heney says the number one emergency situation that kills firefighters is traffic.
“It is the most dangerous place to be. In town, the speeds are quite a bit lower but on the highway, in an emergency scene, it is the most dangerous place an emergency responder can be. These are folks who have given up whatever it was they were doing to assist and I think it is important that we give them some grace to do their job.”
The fire chief says there are times when emergency responders will need to either slow or direct traffic and this will help protect everyone.