Emergency vehicles — Texas Permit Test

A driver must yield to a police car, fire truck, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle sounding a siren, bell, or showing a flashing red light, and pull to the right edge of the road and stop.

Everybody clearing to the same side leaves one open path. Pulling left creates a second obstacle instead.

If traffic allows, pull to the right edge of the road and stop

A driver who cannot pull over to the right must slow down and leave a clear path for the emergency vehicle.

Boxed-in traffic cannot move to the curb, and stopping dead blocks the lane. Slowing and leaving the gap is what is left.

If you are unable to pull over to the right, slow down and leave a clear path for the emergency vehicle

A driver may not follow within 500 feet of a fire truck answering an alarm or an ambulance with its flashing red lights on.

Following close behind means arriving in the middle of whatever they are arriving at. The distance keeps the scene clear.

You are not allowed to follow within 500 feet of a fire truck answering an alarm or an ambulance when the flashing red lights are on

A driver may not drive or park on a street where a fire truck has answered an alarm.

Hoses run across the road and crews work in it. A parked car there is in the way of the whole operation.

Do not drive or park on the street where the fire truck has answered an alarm

A driver may not park where it interferes with an ambulance arriving at or leaving the scene of an emergency.

The ambulance has to get out again with somebody in it. A car in the way costs minutes nobody has.

Do not park in a location that interferes with the arrival or departure of an ambulance to or from the scene of an emergency

Approaching a stopped emergency vehicle with its lights on, a driver must vacate the lane closest to it where the highway has two or more lanes in that direction.

A crew working beside the road is an arm's length from traffic. Moving over is the only thing that puts space there.

Unless otherwise directed by a law enforcement officer, drivers who approach a stopped emergency vehicle with its lights activated must: 1. Vacate the lane closest to the emergency vehicle if the highway has two or more lanes traveling in the direction of the emergency vehicle;

Where the posted speed limit is 25 mph or more, a driver passing a stopped emergency vehicle must slow to at least 20 mph below the limit.

Twenty under is enough to change what a glancing blow does. It is a fixed subtraction, not a fixed speed.

Slow to a speed not more than 20 mph less than the posted speed limit when the posted speed limit is 25 mph or more

Where the posted speed limit is less than 25 mph, a driver passing a stopped emergency vehicle must slow to less than 5 mph.

Subtracting twenty from a low limit would mean stopping. Below that line Texas names a speed instead.

Slow to a speed less than 5 mph when the posted speed limit is less than 25 mph

What must a Texas driver do for an emergency vehicle with its siren sounding?

Pull to the right edge of the road and stop. Everybody clearing to the same side leaves one open path. Pulling left creates a second obstacle instead. Texas Driver Handbook, p.22: “If traffic allows, pull to the right edge of the road and stop”