How to let an ambulance pass: emergency vehicles and the Highway Code
An ambulance comes up behind you on a busy street. Let it through without breaking the law or putting anyone at risk.
The short version
- Look and listen for emergency vehicles. Do not panic or brake harshly.
- Pull over where it is safe and wide, not on a bend, the brow of a hill or the kerb.
- Never break traffic law to make way, such as going through a red light.
Step 1
An ambulance with blue lights and siren is coming up behind you. What do you do?
✓ Stay calm, work out where it is going, and pull over to the left when it is safe. Look where it can get past, signal and slow down smoothly. Do it where the road is wide enough and you can stop safely.
Why not the other options
- ✗ Brake hard and stop where you are. Sudden braking can cause a crash with the car behind, and stopping in the lane may block the ambulance.
- ✗ Speed up to stay ahead of it. Racing ahead is dangerous and does not help it get through. Let it pass.
- ✗ Mount the pavement to give it as much room as possible. Avoid mounting the kerb. It puts pedestrians at risk and can damage your car.
Step 2
There is a row of parked cars on your side a little further ahead.
Where should you pull in?
✓ In the clear stretch before the parked cars, where it can get past you. Pulling in where the road is widest leaves room for the ambulance and for oncoming traffic to make space too.
Why not the other options
- ✗ Alongside the parked cars. Stopping next to parked cars narrows the road to one lane and boxes the ambulance in.
- ✗ Just past the brow of the hill ahead. Avoid stopping near a bend or the brow of a hill, where others cannot see you in time.
- ✗ Nowhere, keep going so you do not hold it up. If the road is too narrow for it to pass, pulling in at the next safe place is how you avoid holding it up.
Step 3
The ambulance has gone past. What now?
✓ Look and listen for any more emergency vehicles, then check mirrors, signal and move off. Emergency vehicles often travel together. Make sure the road is clear before pulling out.
Why not the other options
- ✗ Pull straight out and follow it to get through traffic. Following an emergency vehicle is dangerous, and another may be right behind.
- ✗ Stay stopped until you can no longer hear it. Once it has passed and the road is clear, move off normally. Waiting too long holds others up.
- ✗ Pull out without checking, since everyone has stopped. Always check your mirrors and blind spot. Other drivers may already be moving.
Step 4
Another day, you are first in the queue at a red light and an ambulance pulls up behind.
Should you go through the red light to let it pass?
✓ No. Stay where you are unless you can move aside without breaking the law or endangering anyone. You must keep to traffic signs even for an emergency vehicle. The driver is trained to find a way through.
Why not the other options
- ✗ Yes, it is allowed when an ambulance is behind. There is no such exemption for you. You could be prosecuted and could cause a crash in the junction.
- ✗ Yes, but only if you edge across slowly. Creeping into a junction on red is still crossing the stop line, and cross traffic may not see you.
- ✗ Reverse back to make room. Reversing in a queue is dangerous. Stay put and let the ambulance driver choose a route.
The rules behind it
- Rule 219 Look and listen for emergency vehicles. Let them pass without breaking traffic law, endangering anyone or mounting the kerb, and do not stop on a bend or the brow of a hill.
More situations
Based on the Highway Code and the Road Traffic Act 1988 as published on GOV.UK in October 2026, in our own words; follow the links for the full text. Insurance points are common UK insurer policy terms, so check your own policy. This is not legal advice. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.