Quite a few states, and even Canadian provinces, have recently adopted laws intended to help protect police officers, fire and EMS personnel, and other emergency responders as they perform their missions on our nation's crowded highways. To ease emergency vehicle movement through congested traffic, most jurisdictions have long had laws requiring motorists to slow and move to the shoulder upon the approach of an emergency vehicle. The new breed of "move over / slow down" law serves another purpose, one that any police officer who has ever made a traffic stop or firefighter who has worked an accident scene while being buzzed by speeding traffic can easily relate to - to protect emergency responders while operating at emergency scenes.
News stories abound about police officers and fire/EMS personnel who have been injured or killed in the line of duty when struck by moving traffic. Chicago fire lieutenant Scott Gillen was struck and killed two days before Christmas, on December 23, 2000, while working at an accident scene. Walking an ambulatory accident victim to their medic unit on a rain slicked Oklahoma interstate, paramedics Shawn Skelly and Shane Gilmore and their patient were killed when they were slammed into the ambulance by an out of control sports utility vehicle. While investigating an accident in January, 2000, Centerville, Ohio police officer John Kalaman and Washington Township firefighters Robert O'Toole and Charles Arnold were all struck by a vehicle sliding on black ice, leaving Kalaman and O'Toole dead and Arnold hospitalized in a coma for weeks. While performing traffic control functions as a fire police officer, veteran volunteer firefighter Joe Kroboth, Sr., was struck and killed as he directed traffic around an earlier accident scene on a Maryland interstate in 1997. During the course of a routine traffic stop, Indiana State Trooper Richard Gaston and the two occupants of the stopped vehicle - a grandfather and his 11 year old grandson -- were all killed, and Gaston's partner seriously injured, when their vehicles were struck by a tractor trailer in March, 1999.
There are endless accounts of public safety personnel being struck and killed across the nation. Incidents resulting in death are dwarfed by the much larger numbers of injuries arising from similar incidents, while both of these categories are dwarfed by the even greater number of "close calls" experienced by virtually every seasoned emergency responder. But even with the large number of injuries and deaths attributable to "struck-by" incidents every year, they are not tracked by any formal, nationwide data repository or centralized record keeping systems. Many, in not most, of these incidents, particularly the close calls, are simply never reported anywhere. But what statistics there are tend to be startling. For example, "nine of the 29 Oklahoma troopers killed in the line of duty during the patrol's history were hit by drivers while investigating crashes, making traffic stops, or assisting disabled motorists."
Emergency services personnel know to "watch their backs" when performing duties amidst traffic, and nearly everyone has heard of one or more of the legion of "struck-by" tragedies that have killed or seriously injured emergency services personnel, but the lack of validated statistics tends to mask the gravity this issue. As such, few large-scale efforts to systematically combat this problem have developed, and training is scattered at best.
Because of the nature of police duties, which often involves frequent traffic stops and traffic direction duties, police curricula and education does detail the hazards of moving traffic and operating in its midst. Conversely, fire and EMS training and curricula have generally not placed great emphasis on these hazards. While they may slowly be garnering the attention of the fire and EMS community, they do not receive nearly the same focus as Federally mandated hazardous materials or blood-borne pathogen training, despite the fact that emergency responders may face these traffic hazards on a much more routine basis.
Despite the lack of any major national focus on the hazards of conducting public safety operations amidst moving traffic, the rash of tragic incidents has served as a touchstone in a number of states for "move over / slow down" legislation. While referred to by a host of names in the 21 states in which they have been enacted (see reference table), they generally share a common approach by requiring motorists, upon approaching stationary emergency vehicles with activated emergency lights flashing, to either move to a lane at least one lane away from the emergency vehicle, and/or to slow down to a reasonable speed that is safe given the situation.
Legislation in South Carolina, for example, was tirelessly promoted by paramedic James Garcia after he was struck and seriously injured in the line of duty while tending to the victim of a previous accident. The laws in South Carolina were in such a sad state of affairs at the time that there were no protections for responders operating at accident scenes, and Paramedic Garcia was actually determined to be at fault for being in the roadway where he was struck!
Lt. Scott Gillen's death in Illinois fueled the passage shortly afterwards of legislation known as "Scott's Law," dedicated to his memory. Scott's law requires motorists approaching stationary emergency vehicles that have emergency lights activated to either change lanes to a lane not adjacent to the emergency vehicle, or, if that would be impossible or unsafe, to reduce speed to a speed safe for the road conditions. Violation of Scott's law can result in fines upwards of $10,000, and license suspension for upwards of two years.
Ohio's "move over / slow down" law came about after the collision that took the lives of both officer Kalaman and firefighter O'Toole. Following his death, Kalaman's parents tirelessly advocated for the passage of such legislation to ensure that other emergency responders were better protected. Although its penalties are less stringent than Illinois' statute, allowing only for issuance of a citation, its move over/slow down features are otherwise similar to the Illinois' statute. The state maintains an excellent website promoting the law at: http://www.state.oh.us/ohiostatepatrol/MoveOver/MoveOver.htm
Upon enactment, "move over / slow down" laws tend to be well publicized. Either because the laws have come on the heels of a recent tragedy, because there are vocal public safety advocates, or because these laws are somewhat unusual - or perhaps for all three reasons, frequent newspaper articles generally alert the public that the new laws are in force. But, the educational impact of this media coverage is muted by the fact that many drivers may not see the newspaper or television news stories about the laws, those who do may forget over time, and many drivers may come from either out-of-state or other regions without good media coverage.
Nevertheless, it is this public education component which is, perhaps, the most important feature of these laws. It is one thing to ensure that motorists who strike emergency responders suffer consequences, but it is another thing entirely - and in reality, the most important goal - to ensure that no emergency responders are struck in the first place. The most effective way to ensure this is, therefore, not to simply advocate for the passage of "move over - slow down" legislation, but rather to use this as just part of a public education campaign.
This lesson proves to be universal, hardly limited to the U.S. While speaking about similar legislation recently proposed in Ontario, Canada, Public Safety Minister Bob Runciman said "the intent of this legislation is to provide a platform for educating the public . . . [which] clearly aren't aware of what they should be doing when an emergency vehicle is pulled off to the side of the road." Ontario's legislation was proposed in late 2002, after the deaths of four provincial police officers, and countless near-misses, during the previous five years.
Florida's "Move Over Act" has just taken effect, and offers a good model for public education. The act states that the "Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles shall provide an educational awareness campaign informing the motoring public about the Move Over Act," including promoting the Act in all newly printed driver's license educational materials. Florida officials also appear to maintain a good "struck-by" record keeping system, at least for law enforcement incidents, with the State Highway Patrol reporting a startling 1,793 crashes into stopped law enforcement vehicles between 1996 and 2000, resulting in five deaths and 419 injuries.
Indiana's "move over" law was passed just weeks after the horrific accident that took the life of Trooper Gaston and two others. To ensure that the message gets out, one Indiana trooper "staples a copy of an [Indiana State Police] brochure explaining the law in detail to each warning slip he writes." Also promoting the new law, Indiana's Department of Transportation "has posted hundreds of signs, particularly along the state's borders, warning motorists about the move-over law." The State of Ohio adopted a similar approach, installing 75 signs along interstate highways, state routes, and U.S. routes throughout the state reading "State Law. Move Over or Slow Down for Stopped Law Enforcement and Public Safety Vehicles."
No law, unfortunately, can protect all emergency responders. The nation's dedicated public safety personnel will continue to be confronted with their fair share of drunk, drugged, dozed, distracted, or dumb drivers, all aiming for them, intentionally or unintentionally, as they perform their duties to protect and serve on our nation's roadways. But "move over / slow down" laws, and the concomitant public education efforts, are at least one step to protect the protectors.