Chap. 359.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 78 of the Motor Vehicle Code
of Virginia, prescribing the duty of drivers of other vehicles with respect to
police and fire department vehicles. [H B 228]

Approved April 1, 1942

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That section
seventy-eight of the Motor Vehicle Code of Virginia be amended and re-
enacted, as follows:

Section 78. What to do on approach of police or fire department
vehicle—(a) Upon the approach of any police or fire department ve-
hicle, giving audible signal by siren or exhaust whistle, the driver of every
other vehicle shall immediately drive the same to a position at or near as
possible and parallel to the right-hand edge or curb, clear of any inter-
section of highways, and shall stop and remain in such position unless
otherwise directed by a police or traffic officer, until the police or fire
department vehicle shall have passed. This provision shall not operate to
relieve the driver of a police or fire department vehicle from the duty to
drive with due regard for the safety of all persons using the highway, nor
shall it protect the driver of any such vehicle from the consequences of
an arbitrary exercise of such right of way.

(b) It shall be unlawful, in any county or town, for the driver of
any vehicle, other than one on official business, to follow any fire appa-
ratus traveling in response to a fire alarm, at any distance closer than five
hundred feet to such apparatus or to drive into or park such vehicle, in
any town or subdivision laid off in blocks, within five hundred feet of
where fire apparatus has stopped in answer to a fire alarm.