I disagree with your comment. Remember, the motorcade was in the left lane with its lights flashing. Lights flashing means all cars are supposed to pull to the right. If the Red pickup pulls to the right, the white truck should also pull to the right, NOT speed up to pass the car that pulled over.
By pulling past, the white truck cut off the red truck’s only avenue of escape from an accident, while not appropriately pulling over and slowing down.
I see this all the time. A few cars correctly pull over and slow when they see flashing lights, and other drivers speed up to pass those who pulled over.
If the siren-on vehicle is in the left lane, does that require vehicles in the right lane to pull over? I don’t think it does. Granted, it’s wise to slow down and perhaps even pull over. But I don’t think one is legally required to do so if the “emergency” vehicle already has its own clear path.
The driver of the red truck told investigators he pulled off and then swerved back on because he found a sign in his path on the shoulder. The law does not require one to pull over “immediately”...it generally directs drivers to do so at the first safe opportunity. Apparently, this driver made an unsafe maneuver at the point where he pulled off.Had the white truck followed him onto the obstructed roadside, they could both have ended up in an accident as they avoided the obstacle.
Once the red pickup was on the shoulder he was obligated to check approaching traffic before re-entering. He can’t just assume all following vehicles pulled over too. (Also, I’ve seen no report that the white pickup “sped up”.)
Speed and other variables may have contributed to the seriousness of the crash. But the red pickup driver caused the accident (given what we know now). I’m not saying he should be cited. His situation is probably akin to the driver who swerves to avoid a child running into the road. He may cause an accident, but his action was understandable. That’s why we call them “accidents”.