Giving way to emergency vehicles

You must give way upon hearing the emergency siren of any motor vehicle used for ambulance, fire brigade, military, police, customs or civil defence purposes (an “emergency vehicle” in this rule) or seeing the flashing lights of such a vehicle. In addition you must (SSO, Highway Code r 107):

• stay calm and check the direction of the oncoming emergency vehicle;
• give way by signalling early and filter towards the left if it is safe to do so — do not wait until the last minute;
• if you cannot filter left safely, slow down to let the emergency vehicle overtake you;
• not speed up to block an overtaking emergency vehicle, or try to overtake or tailgate an emergency vehicle;
• not break the law to give way (for example by driving through a red light).

OneMotoring’s EMAS captions include “look out and give way to ambulance” and “look out and give way to fire engine” (OneMotoring, Driving Rules and Information).

Traffic Police’s composition table lists “failing to give way to emergency vehicles such as ambulances, fire brigades or Police vehicles” as 4 demerit points with $150 (light vehicle) / $200 (heavy vehicle) (SPF, Penalties for Traffic Offences).

Emergency vehicles such as fire engines, ambulances, and Singapore Police Force and Singapore Civil Defence Force vehicles are allowed to exceed the speed limit while on official duty (OneMotoring, Driving Rules and Information).

Coverage debt

• Military, customs, and civil defence vehicles are named in Highway Code r 107 but not in the TP composition row’s examples.

Sources

• Highway Code r 107
• OneMotoring, Driving Rules and Information
• SPF, Penalties for Traffic Offences