AAA study<\/a> found that one in three drivers doesn\u2019t move over for vehicles on the side of the road. The autoclub said 46 emergency responders were killed last year after being struck by vehicles while working on roadside incidents.<\/p>\nThe fatalities include law enforcement officers, tow truck operators, safety service patrol workers, fire and EMS personnel, and a road service technician. Every state requires people to move over or slow down for vehicles on the side of the road.<\/p>\n
Researchers reviewed real-world video of drivers passing incident scenes and found that while 64% of drivers changed lanes or slowed down when passing incident scenes, 36% did neither. Slowing down was especially rare, even in states with specific speed reduction requirements.<\/p>\n
The study found drivers often prioritize changing lanes but neglect slowing down, many are unaware of their state\u2019s specific requirements or which vehicles are protected, and limited enforcement and low visibility of public outreach hinder compliance.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery responder lost is a father, mother, son, or daughter who didn\u2019t make it home,\u201d said Mark Jenkins, AAA spokesman. \u201cWe need drivers to understand that slowing down and moving over isn\u2019t just the law, it\u2019s a life-saving act.\u201d<\/p>\n
AAA recommends standardizing laws across states with clearer language and stronger penalties, launching emotionally compelling public awareness campaigns using digital platforms, signage, and media, and enhancing enforcement through high-visibility efforts and educational traffic stops, supported by technology like dashcams and automated systems.<\/p>\n
Florida law requires drivers to slow down and move over for first responders, tow trucks, disabled vehicles and more. If drivers are unable to move over, they are required to slow down to 20 miles an hour below the posted speed limit.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 WCTV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV\/Gray Florida Capital Bureau) – Thousands of drivers across the country are breaking laws and putting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[11246,21247,1442,5318,21137,28,21244,21245,21246,232,234,233,729,8328],"class_list":["post-28643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-aaa","tag-aaa-study","tag-cody-butler","tag-drivers","tag-emergency-responders","tag-florida","tag-move-over","tag-move-over-law","tag-roadside-safety","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news","tag-traffic","tag-traffic-violations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}