When an emergency vehicle approaches with lights and siren, every driver it could meet has the same job: get out of the way predictably. The national rule is to pull to the right edge of the road and stop, in both directions on an undivided road, and stay stopped until it has passed.
Predictability is the point. The emergency driver is threading a path through traffic at speed and can only do it if everyone moves the same direction, right, and then holds still. If you are inside an intersection when you hear the siren, clear the intersection first, then pull right; stopping in the middle of the box blocks the one path the emergency vehicle needs.
The tested mistake is stopping in place in a travel lane or intersection, pulling left, or racing ahead to outrun the siren. All three make the emergency driver guess, which is the one thing the rule exists to prevent.
This situation appears in 5 questions across 5 of our state banks, on Driver License practice tests. Start with your state:
An ambulance approaches from behind with a siren and red lights. What should you do?
Why: For an approaching emergency vehicle using a siren and red lights, drive to the right edge and stop until it passes. Therefore, the supported response is "Move to the right edge and stop until it passes".
Every practice test explains its answers this way. Pick your state and take one free; no sign-up.
Choose your statePull to the right edge of the road and stop, and stay stopped until it has passed. On an undivided road, traffic in both directions pulls right.
Clear the intersection first, then pull to the right and stop. Never stop inside the intersection; that is the path the emergency vehicle most needs.
On undivided roads, yes: both directions pull right and stop. On divided roads with a physical median, states differ on what oncoming traffic must do, and our state banks use each state's own rule.
No. Following one closely is illegal everywhere, with the specific distance defined by each state, and it puts you inside the space emergency drivers use to maneuver.
Move-over laws in every state require you to change lanes away from it when safe, or slow well down where you cannot. The stopped vehicle scenario is tested as often as the approaching one.