Pulling over for emergency vehicles

[Lin W]

Somewhere recently I saw or read that when you pull over to let an emergency vehicle pass, it is not always necessary to pull to the right if pulling to the left is possible (and safe). Today I was driving in the left lane on 11, just before Shipman, headed toward Keaau, when almost simultaneously, the car in front of me pulled into the right lane and slowed, and an ambulance with lights and siren appeared in my rear-view coming up fast. To pull to the right I would have had to either brake hard and cut over behind that car or romp on the gas to get ahead of him. Instead, since there was a pretty good shoulder, I pulled left onto the shoulder and stopped. The ambulance went by on my right with plenty of room but blasted the horn as he passed me. I was unsure if he was honking to let me know I had done something wrong or honking at the guy on the right who never did pull over, or...what? Anyway, thought I'd ask here if pulling left in this situation was the right or wrong thing to do, 'cause it's liable to happen again – lots of ambulances rolling today, kinda spooky considering the accidents of the past few days. I did check the Hawaii Driver's Manual and it just says pull to edge of road and stop, does not specify left or right.







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