Emergency and maintenance vehicles — Illinois Permit Test

A driver approaching a stationary emergency or maintenance vehicle showing oscillating, rotating or flashing lights must yield, change to a lane away from the workers where possible, reduce speed and proceed with caution.

Somebody is standing beside that vehicle with traffic going past their back. Moving over is the whole of what keeps them alive.

When approaching a stationary (non-moving) emergency/maintenance vehicle using visual signals-by displaying blue, red, amber, white, or green oscillating, rotating or flashing lights- or an emergency scene where those lights are in use, Illinois law requires motorists to yield, change to a lane away from the emergency workers when possible, and proceed with caution.

Where a lane change is not possible beside a stationary emergency vehicle, the driver must reduce speed and proceed with caution.

Sometimes there is nowhere to move to. The law still asks for the slower half of the rule rather than nothing.

If a lane change is not possible, reduce speed and proceed with caution.

A driver being approached by an emergency vehicle using lights and sirens must immediately pull to the right side of the road and let it pass.

The emergency vehicle needs one predictable place to find room. Everybody going right makes a lane out of nothing.

When being approached by an emergency vehicle using audible and visual signals (lights and/or sirens), Illinois law requires motorists to immediately pull to the right side of the road and allow the emergency vehicle to pass.

A driver stopped at an intersection with two-way traffic must stay stopped until the emergency vehicle has passed through the intersection.

Moving off the moment the siren reaches you puts your car in the path it is aiming for. Waiting for it to clear the intersection costs seconds.

If stopped at an intersection with two-way traffic, remain stopped until the emergency vehicle passes through the intersection.

Illinois law prohibits photography and wireless phone use within 500 feet of an emergency scene, except in certain circumstances.

A driver filming a crash is a driver not watching the road they are on. Five hundred feet is far enough back that the phone goes away before the scene arrives.

Illinois law prohibits photography and the use of wireless/cellphones within 500 feet of an emergency scene, except in certain circumstances.

A driver is prohibited from driving over fire hoses unless a fire official in command of the scene permits it.

A hose crushed under a tire is water stopping at the wrong end of it. Only the officer running the scene can say when it is safe.

A driver is prohibited from driving over fire hoses unless permitted by a fire official in command of the scene.

What must an Illinois driver do when approaching a stopped emergency vehicle with flashing lights?

Yield, move a lane away where possible and reduce speed. Somebody is standing beside that vehicle with traffic going past their back. Moving over is the whole of what keeps them alive. Illinois Rules of the Road 2026, p.25: “When approaching a stationary (non-moving) emergency/maintenance vehicle using visual signals-by displaying blue, red, amber, white, or green oscillating, rotating or flashing lights- or an emergency scene where those lights are in use, Illinois law requires motorists to yield, change to a lane away from the emergency workers when possible, and proceed with caution.”