Jones county officials warning residents to yield at emergency personnel

JONES COUNTY, Miss. - This is a press release from Jones County Volunteer Fire Department.

Jones County has experienced an epidemic lately of personal vehicles not yielding right-of-way to emergency vehicles, both fire apparatus and personally operated vehicles responding to an emergency scene.

When you see red and white emergency lights in your review mirror, whether accompanied by a siren or not, you must yield right-of-way immediately.

Keep in mind that those emergency vehicles may be responding to your home or the scene of a loved one that was involved in a vehicle accident. Failure to yield right-of-way results in the delay of emergency vehicles' response to a scene and could inevitably result in the loss of your own property or the lives of someone you hold dear.

This serves as a reminder to all residents of Jones County that you must yield to both fire apparatus and personally operated vehicles that are running emergency lights during an emergency situation. Furthermore, please yield safely. For those that do respect the situation and attempt to yield to emergency vehicles, please do not yield at a dangerous area on the roadway, such as on a hill or at a sharp curve, unless you are able to completely pull off of the road onto the shoulder or a side street.

Yielding on a hill or sharp curve not only poses a risk for emergency personnel that are attempting to pass, but also places other motorists in danger. If you are in an area where yielding would create a dangerous situation for the passing emergency vehicles, indicate your intent to yield at a safer location by putting on your blinker or emergency lights, and then yield when the location is both safe for you, the emergency vehicles, and other motorists.