Making way for emergency services

Suppose you are in a tailback on the motorway or on a dual carriageway and you hear a siren behind you. The emergency services must reach the place of the accident as quickly as possible.

In Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Switzerland you will notice that the cars move over to clear the space between the two lanes for the emergency services.

Cars driving on the left will move as close as possible to the central reservation and cars driving on the right will stay on the right and if possible drive on the hard shoulder to make way for the emergency services.

In Belgium, too, on roads with at least two lanes in the same direction, you must create a 'rescue lane' in case of traffic jams.