Move over laws

[belfert]

I don't know about elsewhere, but I don't think the Minnesota law state how much you have to slow down if you don't change lanes.  I believe slowing by even 1 MPH would meet the letter, if not the spirit, of the law.

Do other states actually state how many MPH somebody must slow down by?  It seems the Highway Police should have something better to do than place a dummy car on the shoulder.  (Isn't that entrapment?)  What if someone gets hurt or killed changing lanes for a dummy car?  (I certainly understand ticketing for speeding and the like.)

Like others, I try to move over for any vehicle on the shoulder as long as traffic allows.

[cody]

I can't find any reference in the michigan codes that say what the slow down rate must be, the way it's worded is to move over or slow down if it can be done safely, it's kind of a common sence approach to the problem, I don't recall any situation or time where michigan on the state level has set up sting operations to enforce the law, I guess I can see where it could happen but we never had the manpower to utilize that many officers in such a small area, when I worked out of the gladstone post in the escanaba area, our range covered over 75 miles in any particular direction, often creating overlaps with other posts, the day shift patrols were single officer patrols and we had more cars than officers lol, at that time we had 6 troopers, 2 desk sargents that switched off paper duty and the shift commander, any after dark patrols were a 2 officer patrol and in my case, all rookies had to partner up for the first year, any first year troopers wages came out of the training budget and not the posts budget so we didn't even count as a roster filler.  Any calls for backup were normally handled by a sheriffs department or local car but for the most part you were pretty much on your own so you learned quickly how to deal with the public effectively, nobody wanted the additional paperwork a critical incident would create so we were 'officer friendly' most of the time, besides, most of the cars we saw were the same local cars we watched everyday anyway so it didn't take long before you were able to spot the repeaters, we really didn't have the 'John Waynes' that some areas suffered from, most of the officers were pretty much more inclined to explain the error of a persons ways and then let them get on their way to church lol, but state budgets were more flush then too.

[Sean]

As a California resident I have a question:

CVC 21706.5 says that traffic in the opposite lanes of the freeway is not in an "emergency incident zone".   OK, but why are drivers on divided streets ... required to pull over and stop.   If it's essentially impossible to cross the median, and an emergency vehicle is going without delay in one direction, why does all traffic going the opposite direction also have to stop?

First, let's note this is a different subject than the Move Over law that started the thread.

To answer your question:  On a "freeway" (as that term is defined in CVC) it is essentially impossible for the authorized emergency vehicle to cross the median into your lanes.  Yes, there are special crossovers for that purpose, and on freeways with more than 46' of median there might not be a physical divider, so theoretically emergency vehicles could cross anywhere, but practically speaking it is rare, and you'd have plenty of time to see them doing it (thus putting them now on your side, where you are required to stop).

On a regular "divided road," however, there are normally many openings in the median, for cross-streets, driveways, etc., and the emergency vehicle that is coming at you in the opposite direction may very well be going to an emergency on your side of the road, or planning to turn across your path down a side street.  With all those flashing lights, you'd never notice his turn signals, if he even has the time to activate them.  Lastly, fire apparatus, ambulances, and police cruisers have been known to drive right over concrete medians if that will shave a half minute off the response time.  So you are required to stop immediately wherever you are.

Yes, you can argue that some medians are uncrossable for long distances (Jersey barriers, hedge rows, etc.), but that's not universal, and experience has shown that the law can not leave this sort of matter to the judgment of individual drivers, many of whom won't even notice the gaps.  So for safety's sake, the law requires the stop in all cases.

I can tell you from experience that it does not matter how many flashing lights and sirens you have, there are drivers out there who will drive right in front of you.

The law in most other states is similar:  Red (or Blue) Light, Move Right (and stop when safe to do so).

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com