When passing a vehicle with such a placard, hazard warning lights on, and a disabled person exiting, should you exercise extra caution and stop if necessary?
Show the correct answer
Correct answer
YES
Explanation
In the photo a white minibus is standing in front of you with a blue plate with a white wheelchair symbol - a vehicle designed to carry persons with disabilities. When passing it while it has its hazard warning lights on and a person with a disability is getting out of it, you exercise particular caution and stop if necessary. The answer is: yes.
The Road Traffic Act states that a vehicle designed and built to carry persons with disabilities is marked at the front and rear with blue plates with the international wheelchair symbol in white, and its driver switches on the hazard warning lights while a person with a disability is getting in or out. A driver passing such a vehicle is obliged to exercise particular caution while a person with a disability is getting in or out, and to stop if necessary. The rule protects the moment when a person in a wheelchair or on crutches comes down the ramp and may end up on the roadway, while the minibus driver is busy helping. So the plate plus flashing hazard warning lights are an instruction for you: slow down, pass with a wide gap, and when the ramp, the wheelchair or the person is on the roadway, or something is coming from the opposite direction - stop and wait.
Legal basis: Art. 58 para. 1 and 2 of the Road Traffic Act (Prawo o ruchu drogowym)