Safe driving and emergencies
A patrol car ahead turns on its emergency lights and starts weaving slowly across all the lanes. What should you do?
- Turn on your flashers, slow to the officer's speed and stay behind the patrol car. Correct answer
- Pass the patrol car carefully once a lane opens up.
- Brake hard and stop as quickly as you can.
Why
That weaving is a traffic break. Officers use it to slow or stop traffic, for example to clear a hazard from the road or during heavy fog. Your part is to switch on your emergency flashers to warn drivers behind you, ease down to the officer's speed and keep a safe distance. Do not go past the patrol car, and do not speed back up until the officer turns off the emergency lights and conditions allow. Passing defeats the whole purpose of the break. Hard braking is out too, since the handbook wants a gradual slowdown and a sudden stop only when you need one to avoid a collision.
Where this comes from
California Driver's Handbook, June 2025 edition. The correct answer is Turn on your flashers, slow to the officer's speed and stay behind the patrol car.
The rule behind this one
Safe driving and emergencies in California goes through the whole topic, with the page of the California Driver's Handbook behind every rule.
More on safe driving and emergencies
- Your 6-year-old normally rides in a child passenger restraint system in the back seat. In which situation may the child ride in front, still in that restraint system?
- Your car runs out of gas on a freeway during the morning commute, in an area covered by the CHP Freeway Service Patrol (FSP). What can FSP do for you?
- Which method does the California Driver's Handbook recommend for keeping a safe following distance behind the vehicle ahead?
- Under California rules, when must you turn on your headlights?