You're an alert and experienced driver, you kindly share the road with everyone (even bicyclists), you may even carpool or drive a hybrid vehicle — hey, we commend you. But in case you could use a quick refresher on what to do when encountering school buses, emergency response vehicles, and police cars, read on.
School buses
The American School Bus Council estimates that there are about 480,000 school buses transporting 26 million students in the U.S. With nearly half a million school buses on the road, chances are you'll encounter one of them during your driving career. To prevent accidents, don't tailgate and make sure you come to a complete stop when the school bus signals that it's stopping. It's that simple!
For more information about school bus safety, read The wheels on the bus go round and round.
Ambulances
When you hear an ambulance's sirens and see flashing lights, you should try to get out of the way as quickly and safely as possible. First, check traffic around you, and slow down. If traffic allows, signal and try to move to either the right or left lane. If you're leading the pack, put on your hazard lights to signal to traffic behind you that there's an emergency ahead.
Police cars
If you hear police car sirens and see red and blue lights flashing, the officers need you to get out of the way. Try to pull over as soon as you can do so safely. It may sound redundant, but we can't stress it enough: use good judgment when you pull over. You don't want to cause an accident or delay the police officer from his or her duties.
The simplest way to treat school buses and emergency vehicles on the road is to slow down and drive as safely as possible. That way you avoid endangering anyone (including yourself), not to mention costly car insurance claims.
For more information on driving safety and saving on your auto insurance, visit Esurance's Auto Insurance Learning Center.