Q: Is it illegal to not yield to a police car with blue and yellow lights on but no siren?
I was at an intersection when the light turned green for me, I see a police car coming into the intersection on my left. He was driving slowly and I didn't check whether he passed the intersection entry line or not but he had his blue and yellow emergency lights on but no siren. I drove forward a little and he turned on his siren for a split second for what I could assume only to make me yield which I did. After he passed the intersection he parked his car in the middle lane, glanced at me then walked off to the nearby ambulance. I didn't think to pull over because he made no gestures to do so.
My questions are, did I need to yield to him if he had no siren on and only had the blue and yellow emergency lights on? And did I need to pull over after he turned his siren on for a split second?
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A:
In California, when a police vehicle has its blue and yellow lights activated, it is signaling an emergency or a need for right of way. Even without the siren, you are required to yield to such a vehicle if it is approaching or entering an intersection. The lights alone indicate that the officer may need to move through traffic quickly and safely.
When the officer briefly activated the siren, it was likely to get your attention and emphasize the need to yield. In this situation, yielding to the police vehicle was the correct action. Not yielding could have resulted in a violation.
However, since the officer did not gesture for you to pull over or take further action after you yielded, you were not required to do so. Your response to yield and allow the police car to pass was appropriate in this scenario.
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