Is it legal for a person to drive well over the speed limit with their blinkers on in an emergency situation?

A.Mercer

No.

You can still be pulled over by a police officer. If you keep driving, you can be arrested for evading the police. Even if it is an emergency.

I think that most police will tell you that if it is an emergency for you to call 911. Keep the person stablized until professional help can arrive. That way, the person gets the best attention and also you are not endangering that person, yourself, any passengers and other people on the road by driving too fast to get to a hospital. Face it, this will probably be a panic situation and you will not be making the best driving choices.

Blinkers do not turn your car into an emergency vehicle.

Pedro S

no...If you r bleeding or having a baby you probably wont get a ticket but its not legal

dibianeco

no if your having a baby lol and your doing 90 mph with your flasheres on its a right to have them on.

Willow_Elf

Personally if that was the case, I would call the police and ask for an escort or something....like if I had to rush to the hospital to deliver a baby or someone was dying.

Tiffers

Nope!

Louis G

It's not legal, but if you have a true emergency you won't get in any trouble for it.

Ken

There is a fine distinction here that has not yet been made. It is a violation of the law to drive over the speed limit and you could be stopped and ticketed. You could possibly have a valid defense of justification if you broke the law to in order to save your own life or that of another. It is a fine distinction but one that I think this hypothetical illustrates very well. Of course, none of us would ever want to be in that position and the best thing to do usually is dial 911 if that happens. It is possible though that may not be the best course of action. Suppose a child was shot on the street one block from the hospital. I would pick the child up, put him or her in my car and drive as quickly as possible to the hospital. I think I would have a valid justification defense to a traffic citation in that instance. Waiting for an ambulance to arrive could have cost a life.

pgzebulske

Technically, It is NOT legal to drive over the speed limit for any reason. The purpose of your blinkers is to let other motorists know you have an emergency, and to allow you to proceed. Unfortunately, many motorists do not have the necessary respect for other people to do this.

One New Year's Eve, my daughter and I were rushing my granddaughter to the emergency room, and because she couldn't breathe well, I had on my blinkers and was going about 10 miles over the speed limit. A policeman put on his blue lights, I stopped and ran back to his cruiser and quickly told him the problem. He put on his siren and lights and led us to the hospital. Thank the Good Lord for that. The best way in an emergency, if at all possible, is to call 911. The personnel are trained to provide emergency care and to safely transport the victim.

If your issue is that you are trying to get to someone (like at the hospital or something), it is still not legal to go over the speed limit. Just put on your blinkers, and proceed as safely as you are able, and pray that the Lord be in control of what is happening....

mourning my dad

First, it is not legal to drive over the speed limit - that is why we say that "speeding is illegal" - it is against the law.

Secondly, emergency flashers indicate that your vehicle is STOPPED. It is not even legal to use them when moving at less than the minimum speed in most states.

Adacadus

There was an incident in GB a while ago, when a fly-by-wire supercar's computer crashed and the car was stuck in high gear with high acceleration.

The driver was on the hand brake and emergency brakes till the pads wore through. He then got up to about 150mph down the hard shoulder of the motorway (an extra lane for emergencies on the nearside of the road) He was doing about that when he hit a roundabout. He walked away from it, lucky bugger that he is.

The police had tried to clear the way, but they couldn't keep up with him, they never charged him.

Depends on the emergency whether it is acceptable, but it's never legal.

sunman07

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