Move over law.

[lbzdually]

A thread was started in the On Topic Forum, but I'd like to continue it here because the original question was basically answered. A fireman took offense to me saying that this law was being used as a money making tool. Let me clarify-I think the move over law should apply in certain situations. If a cop is sitting in the right shoulder with his lights on the side of I-285 in heavy traffic with no one pulled over and he pulls someone over for this law when there was no possible way for the person to move over, then it should not be a valid ticket. I witnessed it myself coming back from Florida.

I'll also say this, changing a tire on the side of I-75 at midnight with nothing more than a flashlight and emergency flashers going is just as dangerous if not more so than a police or fire truck sitting there, so the baloney idea that anyone who isn't a police of fireman or other emergency worker does not understand how dangerous being mere inches or feet away from traffic moving at 75+mph is.

That being said if a police officer can prove that person was purposefully not moving over and/or speeding in the lane next to the emergency worker, then that person deserves a ticket. Problem is, that the application of tis law is subjective. More than likely the officer is just going by what he thinks happened without having the full picture of what the driver could have done. And for this reason this law is being used as a catch-all fee-grabbing law since it pays out much more than a standard speeding ticket, with a $700 hit without less proof than a standard speeding ticket, and you have a recipe for abuse by law enforcement.

 

[oops1]

I get over for any car on the side of the road.. That being said..sometimes..it's just not possible. I think more people should know you need to move over.. The driving test should be more vigorous IMO

 

[sinclair1]

The high fine has folks so paranoid that I have had more close calls with people cutting me off. You add the move over for faster drivers on the other side of the highway and it's a recipe to have two folks merging to the center and causing accidents.
It's actually safer to run the fast lane and speed, you don't have all the merging to contend with or the merge and then look crowd.

I am a slow or fast driver, I am either in the fast lane hauling biscuits or on the right like granny. Don't do that center ten thousand lane change stuff.

 

[treemanjohn]

It's "revenue enhancement" that's it's. If it were for public safety you would have to move over for everyone on the shoulder not just leo, fire, or utility workers. Why is a leo more important than the average Joe changing a tire? $700/pop pays for a lot in this marble floored palaces called courthouses. It's a shakedown in every way

 

[NOYDB]

Not bragging.

But complaints about having to suddenly move over I don't sympathise with. I pay attention to the road and the traffic around me. I always know if there is a car in the lane beside me and if it is going faster than me or not. I watch ahead and plan for a stopped car on the side before I reach that point. If I need to move over I can slow enough to pull behind a faster car to my left or speed up enough to pull over in front, without the car on the left having to make any adjustment to allow me to enter the lane.

Truely good drivers are not concerned about move over laws.

 

[EAGLE EYE 444]

Not bragging.

But complaints about having to suddenly move over I don't sympathise with. I pay attention to the road and the traffic around me. I always know if there is a car in the lane beside me and if it is going faster than me or not. I watch ahead and plan for a stopped car on the side before I reach that point. If I need to move over I can slow enough to pull behind a faster car to my left or speed up enough to pull over in front, without the car on the left having to make any adjustment to allow me to enter the lane.

Truely good drivers are not concerned about move over laws.

Based on your last statement posted above, you must not get out much these days as that was one of the craziest comments that I have ever seen. You must live in a fantasy world if you really believe that last statement too.

With that statement, it is obvious that you don't drive in the Atlanta area very much where you have 3,4,5,6 or more lanes of traffic that are all completely full of vehicles trying to get to work or wherever. In fact, during the Memorial Day weekend, I drove from Gainesville to Charlotte on Saturday and then returned to Gainesville on Monday on I-85 and the traffic was bumper to bumper for EVERY mile of that trip and you could drive for several miles and NOT have ANY opportunity to try to move over into the left lanes along the way. It was totally frustrating as it was stop and go traffic about 50 times during this trip as there were about 900 million vehicles on the road traveling and also thousands of 18-wheelers and really SLOW moving vehicles pulling campers traveling in the right lane along this trip. It was a night-mare for sure. Add that to the confusion of road construction/maintenance work on most any and every Interstate around the state and I don't care who you are, you don't always have a chance to move over when necessary because of the shear number of vehicles around you.

I frequently drive several hundred miles in a single day and I've driven well over 1,000,000 miles during my lifetime and I continue to see and be involved in some scary situations that were not created by me but I have to deal with on daily basis.

With all of this stated above, I consider myself to be a very cautious driver as I try my best to look well ahead of me when possible and I DO try and move over even when I see disabled vehicles along the right side of the roadway. That is just common courtesy to me. We also must realize that you can't always be able to do that in every case.

 

[pop pop jones]

Correct me if I'm wrong. The law doesn't state you have to move over a lane. It states move over, or slow to below the speed limit. Is this not the law.

 

[Jeff C.]

Like Eagle Eye 444 said, moving over for a vehicle on the side of the interstate or road used to be plain old "Common Courtesy", not anymore.

It also applies in many other situations nowadays.

Society has changed for the worse in this regard, sadly.

 

[sinclair1]

Like Eagle Eye 444 said, moving over for a vehicle on the side of the interstate or road used to be plain old "Common Courtesy", not anymore.

It also applies in many other situations nowadays.

Society has changed for the worse in this regard, sadly.

I am afraid to even change lanes on I20 in dekalb, almost every time thru that section some maroon on a super bike passes me running 150mph plus
I am about to go thru there now and good driving has nothing to do with being able to see folks covering a mile every few seconds

 

[NOYDB]

We also must realize that you can't always be able to do that in every case.

Yes, I can.

Drove in Fl including Miami, Memphis Tn and over 20 yrs in Atl. Every single hwy around Atl. Drove an 18 wheeler everywhere east of the continental divide. Big, medium and little cities and all the open rds between. I was even young and stupid enough to ride a motorcycle in Miami.

Not once did a vehicle I drove ever start itself and drive around without me. I am responsible for everything that ever happened with one of my vehicles. And so is every other driver on the road with their cars. I know some folks think they don't have to pay attention. I've seen them on their phones. I have seen them doing other things besides drive. People forget a truck driver sitting up high can see into the cars and everything they are doing.

Trees don't jump in front of cars. The driver drove into the tree. Cars don't aim for stopped cars on the side of the road. A driver drove into the stopped car.

If you need to move over a lane. The cars are not being rude. The drivers are. And if a driver needs to be in another lane it's not the cars responsibility to plan ahead. It's the drivers who have that responsibility.

Driving is not a competition. Someone in front of you is not winning. Slowing down to let another driver pull ahead is not giving in to them. I know many who drive like it's a race or they need to assert dominance over other drivers. But the point of driving from point A to point B is to arrive at point B. Alive and in one piece.

A large number of drivers are still alive do to the quick reflexes of others. They will tell us all about how good of drivers they are. But are alive because someone else didn't hit them. Yet.

 

[LTZ25]

Don't you people realize you are supposed to be in control of you vehicle at all times . Look ahead and more over for cops wreckers road workers and people having problems . If you ever been on the side of the road you would have a different view . I like seeing people get tickets for this . Just because your driving the interstate doesn't mean your in a race .

 

[lbzdually]

Don't you people realize you are supposed to be in control of you vehicle at all times . Look ahead and more over for cops wreckers road workers and people having problems . If you ever been on the side of the road you would have a different view . I like seeing people get tickets for this . Just because your driving the interstate doesn't mean your in a race .

I'm in control of my vehicle, it's the other thousand idiots around me that give me issues. I, like most people here, have experienced changing a tire after dark in bumper to bumper traffic moving at 75 mph. I move over for everyone I can, but sometimes you just can't and slowing down to 45 mph when traffic is running 70+ is more dangerous than slowing down to 60-65 and that's where the abuse as a revenue tool comes in. Speed limit is 70, car slows to 65 and can't get over, which according to the law is all you have to do. Cop merely estimates speed at 70+ and suddenly you have a $700 ticket.

 

[T-N-T]

I'm in control of my vehicle, it's the other thousand idiots around me that give me issues. I, like most people here, have experienced changing a tire after dark in bumper to bumper traffic moving at 75 mph. I move over for everyone I can, but sometimes you just can't and slowing down to 45 mph when traffic is running 70+ is more dangerous than slowing down to 60-65 and that's where the abuse as a revenue tool comes in. Speed limit is 70, car slows to 65 and can't get over, which according to the law is all you have to do. Cop merely estimates speed at 70+ and suddenly you have a $700 ticket.

This is the problem I have with this law.

The LEO on the side likely has his radar gun locked in on the last number from the speeder he is ticketing. So he or she just "assumes" you didn't slow. Or says you didn't slow enough..... That's junk.

And, why are public service workers more important than Billy who broke down on his way to the likker store?!


I move over for any vehicle on the side. Unless I can't. Then I slow and watch carefully as I approach for movement of a person who could get in front of me. But many act like the cars on the side are not there.


Also, for some reason people get mesmerized by the blinding strobes and drive straight into them. Likely from an epileptic seizure the blinding lights caused.

 

[Jack Ryan]

It's "revenue enhancement" that's it's. If it were for public safety you would have to move over for everyone on the shoulder not just leo, fire, or utility workers. Why is a leo more important than the average Joe changing a tire? $700/pop pays for a lot in this marble floored palaces called courthouses. It's a shakedown in every way

Cops and firemen are super citizens ya know. Their lives are worth way more than any one else.

 

[NOYDB]

Also, for some reason people get mesmerized by the blinding strobes and drive straight into them.

Drunks have been known to do that.

 

[gobbleinwoods]

When this move over law passed I remember seeing that the LEO wanted you to slow down 20 mph

 

[NOYDB]

When this move over law passed I remember seeing that the LEO wanted you to slow down 20 mph

Do you remember was it supposed to be slow down to 20 mph or by 20 mph?

Huge difference.

 

[T-N-T]

Do you remember was it supposed to be slow down to 20 mph or by 20 mph?

Huge difference.

Yes, because if you slow to 20MPH on I85, the LEO can forget the ticket he is writing and immediately start working the wreck you just caused that killed 4 people and totaled 6 cars

 

[Backlasher82]

Also, for some reason people get mesmerized by the blinding strobes and drive straight into them. Likely from an epileptic seizure the blinding lights caused.

Target fixation, very common.

 

[gobbleinwoods]

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