# 道路交通法 / Road Traffic Act — 第四十条 (Article 40) - Law: 道路交通法 (Road Traffic Act), 昭和三十五年法律第百五号 - English title "Road Traffic Act": Ministry of Justice translation - Kind: Act — the distinction between 法律 (Act), 政令 (Cabinet Order), 省令 (Ministerial Order) and 条例 (local ordinance) decides who may issue it and what it may say. - Provision: 第四十条 (Article 40)（緊急自動車の優先） — address `art-40` - Text in force since: 2026-07-21 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/ja/road-traffic-act/art-40 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-40 - Every provision below carries its address and both URLs on the line under it. - Japanese text: e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁). English: as marked on each line below. Only the Japanese as published by the government has legal effect; the text below is a copy of it. Every English rendering below is a translation and says which kind: the Ministry of Justice's translation, or this site's machine translation, whose model and date the Sources list names. They are never merged and never substituted for one another. --- ### 第四十条（緊急自動車の優先） — (Right of Way for Emergency Motor Vehicles) caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System art-40 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/road-traffic-act/art-40 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-40 **第一項** 交差点又はその附近において、緊急自動車が接近してきたときは、路面電車は交差点を避けて、車両（緊急自動車を除く。以下この条において同じ。）は交差点を避け、かつ、道路の左側（一方通行となつている道路においてその左側に寄ることが緊急自動車の通行を妨げることとなる場合にあつては、道路の右側。次項において同じ。）に寄つて一時停止しなければならない。 art-40/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/road-traffic-act/art-40/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-40/par-1 When an emergency motor vehicle is approaching an intersection or its vicinity, streetcars must come to a stop and avoid entering the intersection, and vehicles (other than other emergency motor vehicles; the same applies hereinafter in this Article) must avoid the intersection and come to a stop on the left side of the road (or on the right side of the road of a one-way street, if moving towards the left side of the road would prevent the emergency motor vehicle from proceeding; the same applies hereinafter in the following paragraph). Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System **第二項** 前項以外の場所において、緊急自動車が接近してきたときは、車両は、道路の左側に寄つて、これに進路を譲らなければならない。 art-40/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/road-traffic-act/art-40/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-40/par-2 When an emergency motor vehicle is approaching any place other than what is prescribed in the preceding paragraph, the driver of a vehicle must move the vehicle towards the left side of the road and give way to that emergency motor vehicle. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System --- ## Cites - art-40/par-1: この条 → 道路交通法 第四十条 (Article 40), art-40 — https://japanlaw.org/ja/road-traffic-act/art-40 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-40 - art-40/par-1: 次項 → 道路交通法 第四十条第二項 (Article 40, paragraph (2)), art-40/par-2 — https://japanlaw.org/ja/road-traffic-act/art-40/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-40/par-2 - art-40/par-2: 前項 → 道路交通法 第四十条第一項 (Article 40, paragraph (1)), art-40/par-1 — https://japanlaw.org/ja/road-traffic-act/art-40/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-40/par-1 ## Cited by 9 provisions cite this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 道路交通法 第二十条第三項（車両通行帯） — https://japanlaw.org/ja/road-traffic-act/art-20/par-3 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-20/par-3 - 道路交通法 第二十六条の二第三項第一号（進路の変更の禁止） — https://japanlaw.org/ja/road-traffic-act/art-26-2/par-3/item-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-26-2/par-3/item-1 - 道路交通法 第二十六条の二第三項第二号（進路の変更の禁止） — https://japanlaw.org/ja/road-traffic-act/art-26-2/par-3/item-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-26-2/par-3/item-2 - 道路交通法 第三十五条第一項（指定通行区分） — https://japanlaw.org/ja/road-traffic-act/art-35/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-35/par-1 - 道路交通法 第四十条第一項（緊急自動車の優先） — https://japanlaw.org/ja/road-traffic-act/art-40/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-40/par-1 - 道路交通法 第四十条第二項（緊急自動車の優先） — https://japanlaw.org/ja/road-traffic-act/art-40/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-40/par-2 - 道路交通法 第四十一条の二第四項（消防用車両の優先等） — https://japanlaw.org/ja/road-traffic-act/art-41-2/par-4 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-41-2/par-4 - 道路交通法 第七十五条の八の二第四項（重被牽引車を牽引する牽引自動車の通行区分） — https://japanlaw.org/ja/road-traffic-act/art-75-8-2/par-4 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-75-8-2/par-4 - 道路交通法 第百二十条第一項第二号 — https://japanlaw.org/ja/road-traffic-act/art-120/par-1/item-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-120/par-1/item-2 --- ## Sources - e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁) — 道路交通法 — the text in force from 2026-07-21 (https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/335AC0000000105/20260721_508AC0000000052), retrieved 2026-10-13 - Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Road Traffic Act — Ministry of Justice translation (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/2962/tb), retrieved 2026-10-13 - This site's parser, version 190 — 道路交通法 — structure, counts, cross-references and defined terms, computed 2026-10-13