In some countries, it’s actually a law that if there’s a crash that stops traffic, everyone clears off to the side to create a center lane for police, fire, and ambulances to get through to the crash site. That’s not the law in America; frankly, I think we Americans are too selfish to agree to such a thing.
So how do emergency medical technicians get to highway crashes? Do they come from the opposite direction?
In New York, the vehicle and traffic law requires
the driver of every other vehicle shall yield the right of way and shall immediately drive to a position parallel to, and as close as possible to the right-hand edge or curb of the roadway, or to either edge of a one-way roadway three or more lanes in width, clear of any intersection, and shall stop and remain in such position until the authorized emergency vehicle has passed, unless otherwise directed by a police officer.
New Jersey and Connecticut also require drivers to yield the right of way to emergency vehicles - and I suspect the same is true in many other states. So while your state may not have such a law, it’s overstating the case to say it’s not the law in America.
We have a lot of room here. The highways have a full width berm on the outside that you cannot use unless directed to by authorities Wherever possible there is a lane along the center median as well. The “pull to the right and park” is mainly for surface streets. I’ve never seen anyone pull to the side and clear a lane on highways. It is not necessary.
There usually is room for drivers to get ‘just enough out of the way’ also a lot of roads have shoulders and cut grass that can be used to clear the way or to drive on for the emergency vechicals. On the radio I’ve heard thing like, traffic is jammed but yo can push through. and in those situations that is what they typically do. It’s a slow process though.
Alternatively, the response can be from the other direction at least initially, which can close the road on the other side completely and allow others to travel counterflow to the accident.
I don’t know about “too selfish” – what I can say is that it’s not very practical. Some highways (especially on bridges) don’t have shoulders. Where would the traffic go to create a clear lane?
If other drivers are still driving past the wreckage, then emergency vehicles can also still drive past the wreckage. And if they can drive past the wreckage, then they can stop at the wreckage. I’m not sure what the problem is, here.
I suppose that there IS a problem when the wreck is such as to stop traffic completely on the road, but in that case, there isn’t going to be room for everyone to pull over for the emergency vehicles, so I’m not sure what you think drivers should do about that.
Sure, they can drive to the accident if the other drivers can still drive past the accident- but depending on the traffic conditions they may get there a lot faster if a lane is cleared.
It isn’t? I thought it was. In WV, PA, MD, and OH everyone will pull off to the side for emergency vehicles. I’m pretty sure it was taught on my driving test in WV (admittedly this was decades ago so not sure about now).
On the Baltimore beltway there’s often not enough room to move over due to traffic so emergency vehicles will often go up the road shoulder. I have also seen the police shut down the road at a particular exit so that emergency vehicles can come up from the other direction without worrying about a head-on collision.
In downtown Baltimore you can also have issues just because there is so much traffic that there is no place to go to pull over. People do try to move though, and emergency vehicles will use the opposite lane if they need to.
I don’t know why you think Americans are too “selfish” to allow this. It’s standard procedure everywhere that I have lived.
Most states now have some form of “move over” law, which typically requires motorists to both (a) vacate a lane to allow emergency vehicles which are displaying flashing lights to pass, as well as (b) to move over a lane in order to safely pass a stopped emergency vehicle on the side of the road.
As far as I can tell, there is no Federal law about it, but that’s the nature of the U.S., in which traffic laws are generally administered at the state level.
Oh, it’s certainly the law to pull over whenever an emergency vehicle is coming up behind you with its siren on. I’m talking about when traffic is completely stopped.
Now I’m confused - what do they do in the rest of the world if the traffic is completely stopped? If it’s possible to pull over even if traffic is completely stopped, then it seems many US states require you to pull over. If it’s impossible to pull over because the traffic is completely stopped, then it’s impossible, whether the crash is in the US or in some other country.
Pull over where, though? In the US, it isn’t really defined where or how vehicles should pull over, and even then, it’s only when a siren is heard. On the contrary, countries like Germany have laws that mandate vehicles automatically pull over in a specific manner whenever there is a traffic jam. It doesn’t matter if the jam is caused by a wreck or just congestion. This law ensures there is always a clear, straight path for emergency vehicles. It’s automatic for drivers as soon as congestion gets to the point where cars stop. In America, imagine a three lane highway. Some cars in that middle lane will pull to the right. Some of them will try to pull to the left. Emergency vehicles will have to weave around the slalom it creates.
Here’s an example. How Germans Make Way For Emergency Vehicles Is Brilliant
If you wait until the emergency vehicle is actually coming, you probably won’t be able to pull over because you’ll need to go forward a bit to do it. And you won’t be able to move. So, you do it before it is necessary.
I know on German Autobahn (and also other roads in Germany), in congestion all cars must stay to the right of their lane - or in some cases move partly into the next right lane, except for the left lane which must stay over to the left as much as possible during congestion. This allows a ‘lane’ to open up between the left most lane and the lane next to it for emergency use.
So your 3 lane road becomes a 4 lane road with the 3rd lane only for emergency use.
That makes sense- but according to the article and this one it seems that it doesn’t work so well in practice.
Of course it works well in practice. That’s why it’s news worthy when it doesn’t.
What do Germans know? They leave the left lane clear for passing rather than crowding it full of people driving exactly the same speed as those on the lanes to the right.
In the UK, completely stopped traffic is far from rare. On motorways, there is usually a hard shoulder which the emergency services can use, but not always.
In practice, it’s usually possible for the traffic in the two outer lanes, one of which will be prohibited for lorries, to squeeze over to let blue lights through. I have seen it myself, and also seen dashcam footage and it’s pretty amazing how well it works. Of course, everyone has a vested interest in letting them through because they aren’t going anywhere until it gets sorted out.
We frequently dual dispatch - if there’s an accident in the EB lanes, we’ll start a squad from the previous EB exit & the previous WB exit; mainly because the masses are idiots & don’t know their left from their right, or their East from their West, or even their East from their North. 
Seriously, it happens, a lot that someone will say there’s an accident at milepost 123 but get the direction wrong. That also means WB emergency vehicles can get there relatively unobstructed (only some gaper delay), park in the left shoulder/left lane & hop the barrier to begin extrication/patient care.
If a road is truly blocked, we’ll send emergency vehicles (EV) WB in the EB lanes but only after only after some emergency personal (typically PD or fire chief) is on scene to confirm it with their own eyes. Maybe the road is totally blocked because one car skidded sideways but didn’t impact the accident vehicle(s) or that driver stopped to render aid. If the public figures out the Jenga pieces & clears even one lane to sneak by you’re most likely going to have another accident of now passing EB motorists & EV going WB in the EB lanes; given the closing speed, this would very likely be fatal.
Also, some roads have EV access points - locked gates making the highway accessible from a parallel local road so while the accident might be 5+ miles from the nearest interchange, it’s only a ¼ miles from where the EVs can access the highway & drive up the shoulder.