From what I’ve seen or European cities, the motor vehicle lanes are thinner and there are usually just one of them per road. In the US, the multi laned and wide roads make it easy for emergency vehicles to pass regular traffic. Is there enough room for an ambulance / fire truck to pass regular traffic in say, Amsterdam? Or do emergency vehicles simply move with the rest of the cars?
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It’s not like all roads in Europe are one-lane country roads … Anyway, traffic moves to the side of the road to let them pass.
Well on our big Autobahnen, we do the [Rettungsgasse](https://youtu.be/WfiLITNZudE), a passage for emergency vehicles in the middle. Or at least we try to do that, somehow you always find some idiots who don’t understand how to do that.
In smaller cities, cars just try to get out of the way somehow, they just find a spot somewhere on the side to let the emergency vehicles through. [An example](https://youtu.be/tbfaeqI2QCo).
There usually is enough room.
If all cars pull to the side on a normal road with one lane in each direction, there‘s plenty of space for emergency vehicles to overtake. Even if there is a particularly narrow passage or a one-way-road with only one lane, people just continue driving until there‘s a suitable spot to pull over.
If there is an emergency vehicle with its lights and sirens on, everyone have to pull over to let it pass. There is usually enough space for that, otherwise you are allowed to get on the sidewalk if there is no other way.
I’ve see many a video about ambulances being absolutely stuck in New York traffic despite there being six lanes in that direction. More lanes just attract more traffic.
In Belgium it is now also mandatory to form a rescue lane, on any road that has two or more lanes in the same direction, not just on highways. On other roads there is usually still enough space to yield to the right. Of course you shouldn’t just yield into the soft shoulder at high speed, think of your own safety as well. If there is absolutely no option for the ambulance to pass (e.g. on a bridge) they’ll turn off the siren and hang back a bit as to not stress out the drivers before them.
If there’s an emergency, the cars simply just move out the way. Usually you can just pull over or if everyone moves further to the left it leaves extra room done the middle of the road for them
One thing to keep in mind is that fire truck s in the US are typically like double the size of the ones in the Europe.
You have the duty, as a driver, to let them through. So, stop if you see them passing by or move away to let them through from behind you. Not doings so is against the law.
It generally depends on the roads, that while smaller often allow emergency vehicles to safely pass other vehicles if these pull over, though it is not uncommon to see emergency vehicles going in the wrong direction to pass heavy traffic.
For narrower roads that don’t have spaces where to pull over the emergency vehicles have nothing else to do than to wait that the flow of traffic to let them move/pass at the first wide spot that allows it.
Most of the time there is enough room to pass. When an emergency vehicle has their sirene and flashing light on cars are warned. So usually cars either stop so an emergency vehicle can pass on the lane for the opposite direction. Or cars drive the car on the cycling lane. Keep in mind many European countries are less car dependent. Especially in The Netherlands.
There are videos on youtube, or at least there was – you can watch the responses filmed from the ambulance
You asked specifically about Amsterdam and I remember there was a channel filmed there, called “ambuchannel 112 nl”… I’ve watched every video on that channel it’s fantastic
There are also ambulance training videos from the UK, this is one with commentary that shows you what the driver is thinking: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjkBchxT5kw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjkBchxT5kw)
Police emergency response drivers are required to give the same kind of commentary live and over the radio while driving during a chase for accountability should someone wreck, so you could also see a similar thing if you searched for that – [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxkJGwfDpeU) is an example
The ambulance drivers are well trained and once they pass their test they have frequent refresher courses where they are reassessed by a trainer driver on a ride-along, and the standards of driving for members of the public in order to pass your test are much higher in most of Europe, so there are less problems for this type of driving even with the narrow lanes. You can fail your driving test if you don’t properly respond to blue lights, I had one to deal with during mine, I guess not everybody does but most of the test routes go past hospitals/police stations/fire stations to increase the chances – and it will definitely come up on the lessons at some point since there’s usually around 40-60 hours before the test
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[here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fNy6bXl30I) is one more ambulance one from the UK, no commentary, the traffic is heavier and it is raining
From personal experience North American ambulances are wider than their European counterparts. The majority of the urban vehicles in the UK have the same chassis as standard sized vans. As for the general population, most people pull over, there’s always one person who’s oblivious and anecdotally that tends to be the person at the front of a row of traffic.
In the Netherlands, emergency vehicles prefer the left lane if it is calm, as it provides better visibility and is empty more often.
At more busy sections, either they lane split or use the shoulder, depending on how the traffic reacts
Example: https://youtu.be/wdn8iMPzvqo?t=327
For sections where there is one lane each direction, if overtaking is not possible because of the high ca volumes, distance is kept from the car in front so they do not feel rushed. If overtaking is possible, emergency vehicles drive on the “wrong side”, which forces traffic in the opposite direction to slow down
Highways/freeways by definition have at least two line to each direction. And there is rarely enough traffic to block the road completely. People tend to mover over for emergency vehicles, there is always room somewhere to move into. And if there weren’t in some city center, emergency vehicles can drive on sidewalks or where ever to keep going.
I live next to an “emergency route” which is used by every type of emergency vehicle going in and out the city
Cars usually go to the side by pulling up on the pavement or halt by the left lane in a small intersection