Albany, NY – Starting Saturday motorists must slow down, and when possible, move over a lane when encountering emergency vehicles on New York’s roads and highways.
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This is part of the new Ambrose-Searles ‘Move Over Act’ that was signed into law last summer by Governor Paterson.
The law requires drivers to exercise care to avoid colliding with Police or emergency vehicles on the side of the road when there lights are on.
The law is named after two state troopers who were killed when their patrols cars were stopped on the side of the road and makes some officers feel a little safer.
“You never feel safe, you’re always on guard, never complacent. But yeah it’s a better feeling to stop a car knowing people will be more careful of the officer, even an ambulance or fire truck that’s pulled over.” said Sgt. Thomas Williams
A violation of the law is punishable by a fine of up to $275 along with two points on the driver’s license record.
How sad that NYS would enact a law that is completely based on the judgement call of an occupied officer. Which means the officer is busy either giving a ticket or handling an emergency, when he will decide (without a radar) weather someone is passing too fast.
Or is there a better reason for this law?
this law is common in other states and is common sense. I always switch lanes when passing a cop who is stopped on the side of the road. Mitzvah sichlis…
Means more traffic. Why couldn’t the cop pull his car all the way over onto the shoulder instead of half blocking the right lane?
You can’t pull an accident over to the side of the road. The goal is to prohibit drivers speeding-up while passing an accident site (or disabled vehicle, etc.) and hitting a public safety worker. The law was advocated by a paramedic in South Carolina who was severely injured by a car passing an accident site.
As for “car stops,” the police routinely stay a bit to the left and may even block a lane. It gives them a better view of the occupants, a tactical advantage when approaching the car, and blocks approaching drivers from coming too close (a lot of cops have been injured when standing in the shoulder talking to a driver).
Just intersting to see how they will handling a few cars who will pass them more the alowed speed..don’t forget he is still inmiddle of writing a summens..
Just another trick how to rob us from our hard earned money. Government doesn’t give a damn about anybody’s safety, all they care about is how to fill their coffers with loot so the corrupted politicians could waste it to buy votes.
? Is it possible that the source of the danger to police officers might be the brightness of the flashing lights of police cars at night, which can be BLINDING and DISORIENTING to approaching motorists?