Over the past decade, 722 officers have been killed in auto related accidents nationwide. Three years ago, Idaho passed what they called a “Move Over Law” to help prevent police officers who had pulled someone over for a traffic violation, from being hit by vehicles passing by. The law states that if a police vehicle has someone pulled over to the side of the road with their lights flashing, you are required to both move over (change lanes) AND slow down to help ensure officer safety. Failure to follow this law will get you a $75 fine and 3 points on your license.
This should just be common sense. How anyone can pass a person on the side of the road and not instinctive know they need to give them extra space and also slow down is almost unbelievable.
Several years ago while I was travelling outside of Idaho Falls, my car tire became flat and I had to pull over and change the tire. Unfortunately, there was nowhere good to do this and I had my car up against the metal guard rail on the passenger side, while I was changing a tire on the driver’s side while cars were passing me. Compounding this already tense situation was the falling snow and cold temperatures. As I would look down the road and see semi’s coming in the near lane just inches away from me, I would quickly scurry behind my car to make sure I wasn’t going to get hit by one of them. After several minutes of this, I was never so grateful in my life when a kind snowplow driver pulled his giant plow up behind me and stopped half way in the near lane and half off the road giving me breathing room to change my tire. Traffic wasn’t overly heavy so with his flashing light, traffic had plenty of space to get into one of the other lanes. I can’t imagine police officers having to be exposed to that type of traffic on a daily basis.
If you need an Idaho car accident attorney, contact us today for a free evaluation.
-Oak
