SALT LAKE CITY — Picture this. You’re behind the wheel of your vehicle. And ahead of you, you see the flashing lights of a police car or other emergency vehicle.

What do you do?

Slow down and, if possible, move over. That’s the message from Unified Fire Authority on National Crash Responders Safety Week.

To illustrate the importance to emergency responders of slowing down, and moving over, consider this: these public servants will run into a house on fire. And they will run toward other dangerous situations.

“But if you ask any firefighter on our fire department or in the state of Utah, working on the road is far more scary than actually going inside a house fire,” said Ryan Love, spokesman for the Unified Fire Authority.

This safety campaign, originated by the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen’s Association and now sponsored by the US Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, is intended to remind the driving public in the United States of the danger faced by those in uniform standing by disabled or crumpled vehicles on the side of the highway.

“Since 2018, 97 fire trucks have been hit by a motor vehicle while working by the side of the road, and 81 ambulances hit,” Love said.

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