Starting Tuesday, April 27, Pennsylvania drivers who fail to follow the Move Over law will face big fines. This law requires drivers to merge or slow down while approaching an emergency response area to slow to at least 20 mph less than the posted speed limit.
According to PennDOT com, an emergency response area is where an emergency vehicle has its lights flashing, or where road crews or emergency responders have lighted flares, posted signs, or try to warn travelers.
The Move Over law creates a new point system that imposes two points for failure to merge into the lane not next to the emergency response area. It sets fines at $500 for first-time offenders, $1,000 for a second offense, and $2,000 for a third or subsequent offense.
The law also requires a 90-day license suspension for a third or subsequent offense. The license suspension applies as well to incidents that seriously injure or kill another person. The suspension is six months if the person injured or killed is an emergency service provider or was near a disabled vehicle.
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Additional fines are up to $10,000 for violators who injure or kill an emergency service responder or a person in or near a disabled vehicle.
Doubled fines for several traffic violations when committed in an emergency response area when first responders are present.
Moving over
As reported by NBC Philadelphia, Jana L. Tidwell, manager of Public and Government Affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic, said. “As an organization committed to traffic safety, AAA asks that everyone join us in obeying the law to keep all highway heroes and those they’re responding to safe by slowing down and moving over anytime you see emergency vehicles stopped at the side of the road.”
AAA Mid-Atlantic notes that every state has some sort of law aimed at protecting roadside crews and emergency responders. Every two weeks a roadside worker is killed, AAA said.