RCMP warn drivers to slow down when they see emergency lights flashing on roadside

Nova Scotia RCMP are still not sure why a car slammed into a police cruiser on Highway 125 near Sydney on Sunday, but they say the crash is a good reminder for drivers to follow the law when they see emergency lights flashing at the roadside.

Const. Dominic Laflamme said an RCMP officer had pulled over a truck near Coxheath when a Toyota Corolla smashed into the back of the police SUV, pushing it into the pick-up.

The truck received some damage, but the driver — a man from Sydney Mines — was not hurt.

The RCMP officer and North Sydney man driving the car went to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

"We're lucky this one here didn't end up in fatality, because I saw the photo of the vehicles and it's very substantial damage to both of these vehicles, so it could have been a very bad collision," Laflamme said.

Car ended up on median

The car was eastbound and the collision occurred around 9 a.m.

Laflamme said after striking the RCMP cruiser, the car spun around and landed in the median of the divided four-lane highway.

It's not clear how fast the car was going, but a reconstructionist was brought in and the incident is under investigation, he said.

Not all drivers follow the law when they see an emergency vehicle with flashing lights, Laflamme said.

"It does happen too often. As per my personal experience, I can say that there was many, many occurrences where I was roadside with vehicles and people didn't slow down for me or even for EHS, or didn't move over."  

Whether it's police, ambulance or other emergency workers with lights flashing, drivers have to slow down to 60 km/h on the highway and move over to an outside lane, if there is one and it's safe.

On other roads, drivers must obey the posted speed limit.

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