Move Over Law

. . . is now being enforced in Florida, after having passed into law 9 years ago. You must change lanes away from an emergency vehicle that is flashing a beacon/strobe OR slow down by 20 MPH under the limit. If in a 25 zone, you need to be at 5 MPH.

I'm all for safety, but I saw a string of traffic frantically lane-swap and jump on the brakes exactly where the Officer would be standing - which could trigger an accident while the Citizens learn to comply with the new routine.

"Troopers work in teams - with one issuing a ticket while others look for violators" quoted from the local paper. In this case the cops are causing the issue that they are ticketing for.

$60 base fine and $90 court cost. However, our seatbelt ticket used to be just $20, and is now $200. Only Hawaii and D.C. do not have this law yet.

FL Law

snopes

 

We have it in Cali. They started enforcing it January 1st. It is causing all kinds of problems. I almost get hit every time.

 

Causing issue they are ticketing.
Must be nice to be an unscrupulous police force commander ordering this.
How many accidents caused by the trap?

 

Exactly. Let's assume people typically drive 10 over, and the officers have a "zero tolerance" policy. Aggressive drivers make the lane change.
Cautious drivers hammer the brakes, slowing from 60 to 30. Unaware drivers are caught in the mish-mash. Somebody's gonna screw up.

And at what point on the road are you supposed to be going 20 under??

 

We've got this law up in Ontario as well.

 

In Connecticut that law has been on the books for at least 40 years and I've never had a problem with it here. I've lived in 6 mid-western & southern states and never did I see that kind of compliance there. Seems like when this law is new then people have a difficult time with the choreography of pulling over. Where it's understood when you see a flashing emergency light or hear a siren, you immediately pull over and everyone does it in sync, there's no issue.

I remember being amazed when living in Chicago that people sped up when they saw emergency lights and the emergency drivers had to muscle around the indifferent drivers who either stopped in their tracks or kept trying to beat the traffic; their mindset being "me first" or I'm not giving up my place in queue for anybody...

Yesterday I was on a ride, passed through an intersection and heard a siren. I pulled over to the right and stopped (the law here) not knowing where the emergency vehicle was. there were four other drivers, one in front of me & three behind who did the exact same thing. Turns out the police car was coming on the road we just crossed over and kept going on that same road. The choreography was seamless. The problem is the drivers from other states who do not comply.

And no, I don't like laws for the most part but this is a good one that gets emergency vehicles where they need to go as quickly as possible.

 

You think that's bad, then just be careful when riding/driving through Ohio. I saw this a while back on another forum, get this, in Ohio a cop can give you a speeding ticket by just looking at you and "Bets guessing" how fast you are going! I kid you not. Here is a link to the story:
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-06-03/just ... s=PM:CRIME

 

Have heard of this being enforced around here.And why are vehicles here in Florida not eqiupped with directionals?