Motorists Must Yield to Emergency Vehicles – JFB

Motorists are being advised to yield to emergency vehicles, such as fire trucks, ambulances and police cars responding to emergency situations.

Deputy Commissioner of the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB), Sean Martin, made the appeal while speaking at a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’, on December 10, at the agency’s head office in Kingston.

Mr. Martin said that fire units and other emergency vehicles are sometimes hindered by road users who try to compete with the vehicles and do not yield the right of way.

“The emergency vehicle could be en route to your home. It is important for you to yield to all emergency vehicles whether it be an ambulance, a police vehicle or the fire unit,” he added.

Mr. Martin said that the fire units use sirens only when they are responding to an emergency.

“It is important for you to pull over and allow the emergency vehicle to continue on its path and don’t follow too closely behind an emergency vehicle,” he said.

“You should not try to prevent an emergency vehicle from going on its way to give help to someone who is in distress,” he emphasised.

Superintendent of the JFB in charge of Public Education, Emeleo Ebanks, who also spoke at the Think Tank, said that motorists are required to pull over until the emergency vehicle has passed.

However, he said that some motorists would pull over and continue driving.

“If that vehicle is sounding the emergency siren, that vehicle is responding to an emergency. Pull over and allow the vehicle to go through,” he said.

Mr. Ebanks warned motorists to be aware of what is taking place around them, to ensure that they do not prevent the emergency vehicle from passing.

“You have pulled over, but then you pull over to a vehicle that has already pulled over on the other side. So, you create a double park situation and what that means is that the unit will not be able to go through,” he pointed out.

The JFB’s mandate is to save lives and protect property from fire and other disasters.