I only see 1 out of 4 either slowing or moving to the other lane. Can't count the number of times I have moved to the left lane to comply, then have some asshat pass me on the right, and pass the emergency vehicle within inches at 80+. Have chased some of them down, screaming at them just for the hell of it at the first stoplight after the Interstate exit, did no good but make me feel good. Completely clueless people.
They just made this a law in NY recently. Prior to that no one moved. If you see flashing lights maybe you could anticipate that traffic ahead will slow down or change lanes and not almost have an accident. I know too many people that have been hit because someone else was too important to slow down or let someone over.
If you can't see the stopped emergency vehicles well enough in advance to change lanes safely you should be penalized. People that blind and/or inattentive should have their licenses revoked.
Slippery wrote: Same thing in Florida for any emergency vehicle. You have to slow 20mph under the limit if you cant move to the next lane. Honestly, after having to change a tire on I-95, I can understand it. People fly by less than 3 ft from your car.
same law here in NC.. I did ask an officer about the slow down thing (wanting to know how MUCH the law said to slow down) .. his response was a shrug, and said there wasn't any number associated with the "slow down" part
dculberson wrote: If you can't see the stopped emergency vehicles well enough in advance to change lanes safely you should be penalized. People that blind and/or inattentive should have their licenses revoked.
just over a hill .. just around a curve ... sometimes it's not so easy to see them in time .. it's not that we're blind .. just that the curvy/hilly mountain roads sometimes create blind spots ... as opposed to the flat, featureless highways in lots of places
wbjones wrote:dculberson wrote: If you can't see the stopped emergency vehicles well enough in advance to change lanes safely you should be penalized. People that blind and/or inattentive should have their licenses revoked.just over a hill .. just around a curve ... sometimes it's not so easy to see them in time .. it's not that we're blind .. just that the curvy/hilly mountain roads sometimes create blind spots ... as opposed to the flat, featureless highways in lots of places
And being bunched up alongside each other in those places is dangerous. Safe follow distances and not hovering in each other's blind spots would solve that and increase safety all around. What if you came around the hill and there was something in your lane? Same deal, move over or slow down. If you can't do it you're driving unsafely.
Bobzilla wrote:foxtrapper wrote: If you chose to crouch down 3 feet from the shoulder on I-95 to change a tire, that's simply a foolish choice. You can drive on a flat for many miles, finding a safer place to pull over and change it. BTDT, quite a number of times. This law doesn't apply to you anyhow, you don't have the proper colored flashing lights. Your safety isn't considered. Making it a law that you must change lanes, or "slow down" creates a traffic mess, with the resulting crashes and drama that I've been watching and experiencing. It doesn't make things safer, it makes them more dangerous. It might work in areas that have light traffic and plenty of room, but we've neither here. Lots of traffic, and inadequate congested roads. Here's an idea for the cops, quit pulling over only half way out of the lane. Tell the car you're pulled over to proceed to a safer spot. There are lots of alternatives to the mess this law creates.Umm... no. You can't. The wife tried driving on a flat for a quarter mile to get to a gas station and as she pulled in the tire rolled off the rim.
Ummm, yeah you can smart guy....if you pull over on the side of the highway to change your tire then you're pretty much stupid. Seriously stupid. I once had a flat tire, I got on the side of the highway, I put my flashers on and drove on the shoulder to the next exit. A sheriff came on me and gave me an escort. By the time I got to the exit my tire was gone but thankfully my wheel wasn't destroyed but if it was I wouldn't care, its just a wheel. I've told my wife over and over, if you ever get a flat, drive to the next exit, do not stop on the side of the road.
Indiana passed it due to truckers trying to knock off state troopers hats......
I have no problem with the laws, and I have seen zero issues in traffic. I think foxtrapper just lives in a part of the country with more tards on the roads.
wbjones wrote: same law here in NC.. I did ask an officer about the slow down thing (wanting to know how MUCH the law said to slow down) .. his response was a shrug, and said there wasn't any number associated with the "slow down" part
They basically just don't want you to hit them.....
4cylndrfury wrote: Moving over for stopped traffic is being considerate. Being forced to move over for stopped traffic is asinine.
So being forced to stop at an intersection is also asinine?
dculberson wrote:wbjones wrote:And being bunched up alongside each other in those places is dangerous. Safe follow distances and not hovering in each other's blind spots would solve that and increase safety all around. What if you came around the hill and there was something in your lane? Same deal, move over or slow down. If you can't do it you're driving unsafely.dculberson wrote: If you can't see the stopped emergency vehicles well enough in advance to change lanes safely you should be penalized. People that blind and/or inattentive should have their licenses revoked.just over a hill .. just around a curve ... sometimes it's not so easy to see them in time .. it's not that we're blind .. just that the curvy/hilly mountain roads sometimes create blind spots ... as opposed to the flat, featureless highways in lots of places
Testify, my friend! Amen. So what if you're coming around the corner and there's a kid chasing a ball in the street? You run him over because you're going to fast to be able to see around the corner and leave enough room to be able to stop. Who's fault is that?
plance1 wrote:Bobzilla wrote:Ummm, yeah you can smart guy....if you pull over on the side of the highway to change your tire then you're pretty much stupid. Seriously stupid. I once had a flat tire, I got on the side of the highway, I put my flashers on and drove on the shoulder to the next exit. A sheriff came on me and gave me an escort. By the time I got to the exit my tire was gone but thankfully my wheel wasn't destroyed but if it was I wouldn't care, its just a wheel. I've told my wife over and over, if you ever get a flat, drive to the next exit, do not stop on the side of the road.foxtrapper wrote: If you chose to crouch down 3 feet from the shoulder on I-95 to change a tire, that's simply a foolish choice. You can drive on a flat for many miles, finding a safer place to pull over and change it. BTDT, quite a number of times. This law doesn't apply to you anyhow, you don't have the proper colored flashing lights. Your safety isn't considered. Making it a law that you must change lanes, or "slow down" creates a traffic mess, with the resulting crashes and drama that I've been watching and experiencing. It doesn't make things safer, it makes them more dangerous. It might work in areas that have light traffic and plenty of room, but we've neither here. Lots of traffic, and inadequate congested roads. Here's an idea for the cops, quit pulling over only half way out of the lane. Tell the car you're pulled over to proceed to a safer spot. There are lots of alternatives to the mess this law creates.Umm... no. You can't. The wife tried driving on a flat for a quarter mile to get to a gas station and as she pulled in the tire rolled off the rim.
And completely destroy the wheel in the process. MAybe you misses this part:
The wife tried driving on a flat for a quarter mile to get to a gas station and as she pulled in the tire rolled off the rim.
You want to try and be a smart ass and be demeaning you should try reading what people wrote first. The tire came OFF THE berkeleyING RIM. Bare rim on the pavement. Not only is that unsafe and dangerous, it's highly destructive.
So, "smart guy", why don't you try a little reading comprehension first before trying to be a smart ass.
Lot of anger on this board these days. 
My friend's father was killed while cleaning ice off his wiper blades on the hard shoulder on I-80, which is wider than a typical lane and wider than almost any other hard shoulder in existence. Some jackass sideswiped his truck and hit him. If you guys were connected to a similar situation in any way you would quickly change your tune. I know everyone here makes Michael Schumacher look like Jeremy Clarkson, so what do I know... Try picturing yourself in court explaining to the family of the victim you killed that you couldn't be bothered to move over or slow down because of the inconvenience placed upon yourself.
FYI most states have similar laws. Society has decayed to the point that life is insignificant and kindless and compassion are meaningless. Government is forced to create laws to replace morality and ethics. Think about that.
Sometimes people will have to pull over.
It's good to be cautious around people pulled over. Ideally by moving over, at the least not steaming by at ten over on the shoulder edge of the lane.
There's apparently a significant portion of the population which doesn't automatically get this. You can say it's idiotic, but that observation doesn't reduce the danger they pose.
The above points result in an apparent need to codify the behavior of caution around cars on the shoulder. Hence, a law.
People should pay attention and be cautious and courteous around any vehicle pulled over; cop, utility, civilian, whatever. They should be paying enough attention to do this without wreaking havoc. Not having the law (aka not legislating to the lowest common denominator) appeared to not work for fixing the problem. Hence, a law.
There are a lot of things which I think might be more effectively done with an advertising campaign than a law, but I figure that's more expensive, and the list is long enough that we'd have to buy out all the time normally devoted to selling Grand Slam breakfasts and credit cards in order to popularize moving away from people on the shoulder and the nuances of bike lanes and crosswalks. Not really a cost-effective alternative to adding a line item to the behaviors we are deemed responsible for when driving.
Klayfish wrote:dculberson wrote:Testify, my friend! Amen. So what if you're coming around the corner and there's a kid chasing a ball in the street? You run him over because you're going to fast to be able to see around the corner and leave enough room to be able to stop. Who's fault is that?wbjones wrote:And being bunched up alongside each other in those places is dangerous. Safe follow distances and not hovering in each other's blind spots would solve that and increase safety all around. What if you came around the hill and there was something in your lane? Same deal, move over or slow down. If you can't do it you're driving unsafely.dculberson wrote: If you can't see the stopped emergency vehicles well enough in advance to change lanes safely you should be penalized. People that blind and/or inattentive should have their licenses revoked.just over a hill .. just around a curve ... sometimes it's not so easy to see them in time .. it's not that we're blind .. just that the curvy/hilly mountain roads sometimes create blind spots ... as opposed to the flat, featureless highways in lots of places
Agreed and agreed.
Rural area here. Move over laws suck, and create traffic hazards.
The problem is:
A- people over react to flashing lights (just like they do for speeding)
B- the fines are excessive ($500 in GA)
C- police use it for revenue generation, not safety. They pull someone over for speeding, then watch their rear view for the next guy they can tag for a $500 revenue boost.
D- the laws are poorly written and generally unenforceable, if you are willing to push back.
BAD LAW.
yamaha wrote: Indiana passed it due to truckers trying to knock off state troopers hats......wbjones wrote: same law here in NC.. I did ask an officer about the slow down thing (wanting to know how MUCH the law said to slow down) .. his response was a shrug, and said there wasn't any number associated with the "slow down" partThey basically just don't want you to hit them.....
the don't hit them ... I understand ... I wouldn't want to be hit either ... but I was trying to find out HOW SLOW they want me to go ... since he couldn't give me a figure, I'm assuming all I'd have to do is swear that I slowed down .. to beat the ticket
foxtrapper wrote: If you chose to crouch down 3 feet from the shoulder on I-95 to change a tire, that's simply a foolish choice. You can drive on a flat for many miles, finding a safer place to pull over and change it. BTDT, quite a number of times. This law doesn't apply to you anyhow, you don't have the proper colored flashing lights. Your safety isn't considered. Making it a law that you must change lanes, or "slow down" creates a traffic mess, with the resulting crashes and drama that I've been watching and experiencing. It doesn't make things safer, it makes them more dangerous. It might work in areas that have light traffic and plenty of room, but we've neither here. Lots of traffic, and inadequate congested roads. Here's an idea for the cops, quit pulling over only half way out of the lane. Tell the car you're pulled over to proceed to a safer spot. There are lots of alternatives to the mess this law creates.
I guess this was in direct reply to my statement and I am not going to take it personal as I am sure you are just going through your period and decided to complain on a message board.
Back in 1997 I was driving a nice '87 VW GTI 16V ... That thing was cool with full Techtonics exhaust and Hör springs (this does not matter but I am bored). I was going south on I-95, all of a sudden I heard an huge thud/noise and then I knew I had a flat on the rear drivers side wheel. I had picked up a 15/16 craftsman wrench (I still have it as a souvenir), which went through the tire and destroyed it. With it went my cool rear bumper (which was converted to the newer big bumper set-up). It honestly sounded like the whole rear of the car was going to explode. I pulled over to find the wrench lodged in the tire/wheel and hitting all the body work as it went through. The wrench was bent to E36 M3, its a big wrench, but it was bent like a paper clip.
At that point I had no choice than to pull over and swap the once beautiful teardrop wheel for the spare. I wont go into detail how much it took to find the stupid special triple square tool to remove the lugnut cover ...
Long story short sometimes you have to stop.
I know the law is not for me, but I understand it ... Thats all. You are an engineer, you should too.
Man it sucks to type on a phone.
I had a kid die in my hands due to people's inattention.
years ago I was coming home from Philly at about 3am and came across what appeared to be a 1 car accident. Hyundai elantra tagged a guardrail. We had about half a dozen cars pulled over with our hazards on. One car looked suspecious, sitting at an odd angle to the rest, but I did not think about it.
One of the people who stopped put the driver of the elantra back into his car on the passenger side, he was wandering around the road lost and aimless. As I was on the phone with the police, an Acura MDX flew through all the stopped cars and slammed into the hyundai at 65+ mph. He almost clipped me as I leaned against the side of my car while on the phone.
The Kid in the Hyundai got beyond beaten up when the MDX plowed into it and he was not breathing when I went to check on him (I know CPR and First aid just for reasons like this) and I started CPR... sadly, he never recovered and when emergancy crews finally arrived, they rushed him off and he was pronounced at the Hospital.
The other car, the one that was parked funny, he took off after the Acura plowed into the Elantra. I can only surmise that he had gotten into an accident with the hyundai and when it was made worse, he decided to beat feet.
That was over 10 years ago and I can still feel that poor kids chest beneath my hands as I tried to keep him alive.
The new rule would not have helped him one bit.. but it proves that people just do not pay attention when they are "in the zone" when driving.
SVreX wrote: C- police use it for revenue generation, not safety. They pull someone over for speeding, then watch their rear view for the next guy they can tag for a $500 revenue boost.
Do you really think the police give a E36 M3 about revenue? Sure. Maybe their serge says, "bring in more tickets". Maybe they say, "You're traffic enforcement. Get off your ass!" None of them give a E36 M3 about revenue.
What they give a E36 M3 about is getting traffic to conform to a sate in which they feel safe on the side of the road in any situation. The threat of getting pulled over keeps you from doing stupid E36 M3. Its a proven method.
Yani wrote: My friend's father was killed while cleaning ice off his wiper blades on the hard shoulder on I-80, which is wider than a typical lane and wider than almost any other hard shoulder in existence. Some jackass sideswiped his truck and hit him. If you guys were connected to a similar situation in any way you would quickly change your tune. I know everyone here makes Michael Schumacher look like Jeremy Clarkson, so what do I know... Try picturing yourself in court explaining to the family of the victim you killed that you couldn't be bothered to move over or slow down because of the inconvenience placed upon yourself. FYI most states have similar laws. Society has decayed to the point that life is insignificant and kindless and compassion are meaningless. Government is forced to create laws to replace morality and ethics. Think about that.
Quoted for Truth.
In reply to N Sperlo:
They absolutely care abou revenue. So much so that laws have been passed in my stat to try to combat it.
Try getting a move over ticket in Poulan, GA. They have a half mile of state highway, 1 cop, and 1 source of revenue. To ahead and Google it- the place is legendary.
I know. I've been there (and won, after 3 court appearances)
Speed trap towns exist all over this country, and cops care a great deal a out generating revenue.
I've been run off the road, into the grass, then back onto the road spinning at 85mph because of this, but I don't blame the law, I blame the retarded old man in the Lincoln Town Car that tried to merge into me without looking first.
kanaric wrote:They just made some noisy announcements that the cops are going to be staging fake traffic stops just to enforce this new law.now that is asinine.
No, its Maryland.
So they're primarily increasing the chance of fender benders in exchange for decreasing the number of deaths...Is that really a 'less safe' situation? Most roadside incidents I've ever seen during real traffic congestion were not merely stops for minor citations, but typically roadside incidents that the emergency personnel were necessarily responding to. In my mind, this whole thing begs the question as to whether the people upset by these laws are driving defensively enough, by making room for cars in the outside lane to move into your lane and preparing to slow down as is likely to happen anyways, when they first see the emergency vehicle ahead? We should always be planning for every one of the cars around us to do the stupidest thing imaginable.
Seems to me the problem is with the ineptitude and inconsideration of the other drivers on the road, and not the police/law. In fact, this law shouldn't create any more problems than if people simply did the right thing on their own. Are there any better ideas for persuading people change their careless driving behavior and provide this common courtesy to emergency personnel forced to be working on the side of the road, without actively enforcing this law? In fact, once people figure out what to do and how to do it, they may even become more inclined to do so in situations with cars/people in distress on the side of the road before the emergency vehicles arrive.
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