Move Over - Slow Down

[firefighter ontheside]

There was a very sad event in North Carolina recently.  A state trooper had made a traffic stop and was detaining the driver for whatever reason.  Apparently he radioed for assistance and the trooper that was responding to assist lost control of his vehicle as he approached.  He struck and killed the other trooper and the person being detained.  The two troopers were brothers.

[kantuckid]

KY has that law as well. I see people disregard first responders on the hwy. I also see people who'll stop on a two lane hwy on a blind hill for a dead person in a hearse. The funeral stupidity seems to be more common than the emergency vehicle ignorance thing? The one I see most is in a city around a red light where me first takes over safety.
As for I-roads where our lane pullover law mostly applies to all slow vehicles, the local jokes is that Buckeyes drive that way which isn't true at all. It's lots of drivers dawdling along. 

[Ed_K]

 When we lived in Tx. when a funeral procession was moving along the main highway everybody on both sides of the highway stopped and turned there lights on. I always thought that was a show of respect and pretty kool  .

 You won't see that in Ma. most are to much in a hurry to see the rd in front them  .

[kantuckid]

Some states likely still have laws. My point might (definitely, not might, with some) sound callous, but I fail to see how respect for a dead person justifies any highway actions that endanger the living the least bit. In my area it's a serious issue which is why I mentioned it here as a soapbox thing. People do really stupid stuff anyway but seem to go bonkers when a funeral headlights thing comes along. Understand that my area has only two "straights" in the entire county which actually have local names and the whole place is hilly and often zero shoulders. Not where you can pull over or safely stop for a procession!
 Honestly, I don't see that it's logical were it to occur in flat lands with shoulders. It's a highway, not a chapel or funeral parlor. 
My larger issue with the entire driving thing is that we fail to train drivers properly and that the DL is treated more like a right than the privilege they call it. 
I just turned 78 and have 20/20 vision. many among us do little toward their vision in senior years-they treat it same as their other health factors and ignore it.  Why they don't train folks before they get a DL or ensure good vision by a simple test, and much more is beyond me!  Last year I got what they call a Real ID DL. It supposed to make me more allowable on an airplane I guess but does not one damned thing toward me being a driver who should be allowed to drive! More about am I who I say I am, etc. and sucking my money for checking my addresses and criminal record? 

[firefighter ontheside]

Tonight as I pulled into the complex where my son has soccer practice we heard a lot of sirens so I turned on the app on my phone to listen to fire radio dispatch.  I heard that there was an accident on the highway right near there in St Louis.  2 police officers were on the scene of an earlier accident and got hit by a car that did not slow down or move over.  It sounds like they are both going to make it, but I'm sure they have some serious injuries.  

[WLzM1A]

Many states have this law.  It requires drivers to move over to an adjacent lane if possible when they see a stationary emergency vehicle with lights on.  Also drivers are to slow down so as to pass more safely as they pass the scene.  This seems like a very reasonable requirement.  We do everything we can to position our apparatus at locations that afford very reasonable sight distances to alert drivers to upcoming scenes.  One of the things I do on most vehicle accident scenes when I arrive with my pickup truck which is equipped with many emergency lights is to assess whether there is already good visibilty or if I should place my vehicle further back or around a curve.  That often puts me and my vehicle in a place where I will be the first emergency vehicle hit by another vehicle that did not heed the law.

Yesterday morning, a chief officer of the fire department that hosts my FEMA task force did just that.  He parked at the scene of an overturned truck in the highway.  A tractor trailer that did not heed the law for whatever reason drove right into the chief's vehicle at 70mph.  He was killed instantly.  I did not know Assistant Chief Bryant Gladney, since he was not involved with the Task Force anymore.  I have seen him around headquarters but never talked with him.  At one time he was involved with the Task Force and was one of the members who responded to 9-11.

All that we ask is that you slow down and/or change lanes to afford us more room.  

Could not agree more.  I am LEO in TN and have seen this more than once over the last 24 years.