C-24.2 - Highway Safety Code

Section 406.1 Disposition versions

2012-08-05

406.1. When an emergency vehicle or tow truck with its flashing or rotating lights activated is stopped in a lane of a public highway, the driver of a road vehicle travelling in that lane must reduce speed to avoid endangering human life or safety or any property that is in that lane and, if necessary, stop the vehicle, and switch to the other lane after making sure it can be done safely. In the case of a two-way roadway, the driver must, before switching to the other lane, yield the right of way to any vehicle travelling in the opposite direction.

If the emergency vehicle or tow truck is stopped on the shoulder or on a lane contiguous to the lane in which the driver of the road vehicle is travelling, the driver must, in the following order,

(1)  reduce speed to avoid endangering human life or safety or any property that is on the shoulder or in that other lane;

(2)  change lanes, if there is another lane for travelling in the same direction and after making sure it can be done safely, so as to leave one free lane between the vehicle and the stopped vehicle or, otherwise, put as much distance as possible between the vehicle and the stopped vehicle while remaining in the same lane.

The second paragraph does not apply when the direction of traffic in the driver’s lane is opposite that of the lane in which the emergency vehicle or tow truck is stopped.

This section also applies when a road vehicle with an activated yellow arrow light signal directing a lane change is stopped on a public highway. The lane change must be carried out in the direction indicated by the arrow.

2012, c. 15, s. 14.