NY Fire Lane rules?

[colinstu]

I was watching tv and noticed that some of the lanes in NYC say "fire lane" ...and google image searching it up shows even more of this.

I'd assume those lanes are reserved for fire trucks or maybe other ambulances/police cars... but what exactly are all the rules pertaining to them? I can't find anything online about them.

Can you drive in them at all? If so... move out of the lane if you hear a siren? Anything else to be known about them?

[MrDisco99]

I'd really like an answer to this as well.  Also, can you use the 5th Ave bus lane to turn right?

I've followed traffic on those lanes a few times now and I'm never sure if I'm legal or not.  As if driving in Manhattan wasn't stressful enough.

[Alps]

Yes, you can drive in them, and yes, move out of the way when needed. The interesting thing is that fire trucks can drive the wrong way down a one-way avenue as needed in the fire lane - although they're supposed to try and avoid that, but I've seen it happen.

[qguy]

There's a possibly aprocryphal account of the following question on the FDNY's recruit's examination some time ago:

Question: What is the only fire vehicle which cannot drive the wrong way on a one-way street?

Answer to follow. [Insert Ben Stein impression here:] Anyone?... Anyone?...

[kphoger]

There's a possibly aprocryphal account of the following question on the FDNY's recruit's examination some time ago:

Question: What is the only fire vehicle which cannot drive the wrong way on a one-way street?

Answer to follow. [Insert Ben Stein impression here:] Anyone?… Anyone?…

One with its lights and siren going?  Because, in that case, there is no wrong way?

[agentsteel53]

Question: What is the only fire vehicle which cannot drive the wrong way on a one-way street?

a dead fire vehicle.

[qguy]

One with its lights and siren going?  Because, in that case, there is no wrong way?

Ooh, good thinking...   but no cigar.

[Alps]

IF the question is a trick: some sort of mobile vehicle that can move through houses but is too small/weak to drive on a street. IF the question is not a trick: _____

[agentsteel53]

how do we know it can move through houses?  my guess is some kind of horse-drawn apparatus.

[kphoger]

Yeah, like a firecycle!

Seriously, are you going to tell us the answer??

[NE2]

No fire vehicle can drive the wrong way on a wrong-way street. The driver is the one doing the driving.

[kphoger]

– Well, the car looks great, but how does she handle?
– Oh, she drives great, man, like a dream
– Liar!  Liar!  Cars can't drive themselves!

[qguy]

There's a possibly aprocryphal account of the following question on the FDNY's recruit's examination some time ago:

Question: What is the only fire vehicle which cannot drive the wrong way on a one-way street?

Answer to follow. [Insert Ben Stein impression here:] Anyone?... Anyone?...

And the answer is...  [drum roll]   Wait for it... wait for it...

     a fire boat    [insert rim shot here]

Supposedly the question tests two things:

• The candidate's ability to think creatively.
  
• The candidate's knowledge that by law (at least in NYC) every fire vehicle is authorized to proceed the wrong way on a one-way street.

[NE2]

Bullshit. A fire boat can do it if the street floods.

PS: it actually tests a third thing: the trivial knowledge that NYC has fire boats (and not fire helicopters, for example).

[qguy]

Bullshit. A fire boat can do it if the street floods.

You mean if Al Gore is right? 'Cuz that's about the only way a NYC street would flood deeper than the draft of a fire boat.

PS: it actually tests a third thing: the trivial knowledge that NYC has fire boats (and not fire helicopters, for example).

If it were an "FDNY's recruit's examination" (which is what I said in my post, hence the helpful quotation marks), NYC having fire boats wouldn't be so trivial, now would it?

Nah, it seems the real third thing it tests is the time it takes for a fellow road geek to stamp their feet when they don't get the answer.