The driver of a vehicle upon a highway shall yield the right-of-way to police and fire department vehicles and ambulances if they are operated upon official business and the drivers give an audible signal by bell, siren, or exhaust whistle or visual signal by flashing, oscillating, or rotating beams of red light or combinations of red, blue, or white light visible one hundred eighty degrees to the front of the vehicle. The provisions of this section do not relieve the driver of a police, fire department vehicle, or ambulance from the duty to drive with due regard for the safety of all persons using the highway nor does it protect the driver of any such vehicle from the consequence of an arbitrary exercise of such right-of-way. A violation of this section is a Class 2 misdemeanor.
S.D. Codified Laws § 32-26-15
Yielding right-of-way to emergency vehicles--Duty of driver of emergency vehicle not to exercise right-of-way arbitrarily--Violation as misdemeanor
Applied in 2 court decisions — leading case State v. Seidschlaw (1981)
Most recently applied in Certification of a Question of Law (February 2010)
Source: SDC 1939, § 44.0319; SL 1945, ch 189; SL 1989, ch 255, § 152; SL 2007, ch 186, § 4.
Official source: South Dakota Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Dakota statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.