Now more than ever, be on the lookout for stalled vehicles on the shoulder of the roadway. That’s because the state’s long-standing “Move Over” law has now expanded. State Police Master Trooper Casey Wallace says whereas the old law applied to emergency vehicles such as police units, fire trucks and ambulances, the new law now includes all types of vehicles, including private passenger vehicles and even motorcycles.
“They just expanded that out to anything that is on the shoulder of the roadway that has anything: flashers, vehicles that are broken down, stranded,” Wallace noted.
Now, whenever you approach any vehicle on the shoulder, you are required to move to the next lane over as you pass it. Wallace says there is an allowance if that’s impossible given traffic conditions.
“Say that you’re side-by-side with someone, and you didn’t notice someone in enough time, or you came over a hill crest, or anything of that nature. Slow down to a reasonable speed, if you cannot get over into the left lane, and pass that vehicle with extreme caution,” Wallace explained.
Wallace says the objective of the expansion of the move over law is to keep everyone safe in case, for example, someone ends up walking into the lane immediately adjacent to the shoulder as he or she is swapping out a flat tire.
“We’re just trying to make it safe for everyone on the roadway and trying to put some more common-sense courtesy laws into place to keep everyone safe out there,” Wallace said.
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