Save a life, move over
Moving over or slowing down when approaching a vehicle on the side of the road is just good safe driving practice.
The Editorial Board
Thu, 05 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT
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When you see an Ohio Highway Patrol trooper’s vehicle on the side of the road, the patrol would like you to do two things: First, remember that that trooper has a family waiting for them to come home safely. Then, move over a lane or slow down so you don’t prevent that from happening.
In a new video aimed at hammering home the importance of Ohio’s Move Over Law, the patrol has released a video featuring the small children of troopers, asking drivers to be more conscientious.
“If you see my daddy, will you please move over, because we love our daddy, and we want him to come home safe,” two small children ask.
Ohio’s Move Over Law requires drivers to move over a lane or slow down when they’re approaching vehicles stopped on the side of the road. This includes police vehicles and other emergency and road-service vehicles when their emergency lights are activated, as well as garbage trucks, highway maintenance vehicles, and public utility vehicles.
Moving over or slowing down when approaching a vehicle on the side of the road is just good safe driving practice, but Ohio motorists too often don’t do it.
Since 2014, the Ohio Highway Patrol has cited 18,127 drivers for violations, including 622 from Lucas County.
Driving by at full speed in the lane right next to a parked vehicle is dangerous. Since 2014, two civilians have been killed and 50 people — 21 of them Highway Patrol troopers — have been injured.
Most recently, a trooper working along I-70 in Madison County suffered serious injuries to his back and hip after he had been struck by a van that drifted off the right side of the road. He remains hospitalized. In every case, troopers say, the crashes that hurt or injured people could have been prevented if drivers moved over a lane.
The Ohio Highway Patrol conducted a campaign this year of focused enforcement of the Move Over Law, trying to increase awareness among drivers.
It’s time for Ohioans to get better at following this basic safety practice. Move over. It’s the law.