‘Move Over ‘or slow down — but by how much?

Reporter Caitlin Tompkins recently wrote about emphasis patrols for the state’s “Move Over” law, which aims to protect Washington State Patrol troopers on busy highways.

The law requires drivers to move over one lane when passing an emergency zone. The zone is defined as the 200 feet preceding and following an emergency response vehicle, as well as the adjacent lanes.

If a driver can’t safely change lanes, they must slow down. Fines double for those who exceed the designated speed limit in emergency zones.

That raised a good question from Street Smarts reader Ron Haveman, of Marysville.

“This is obviously a good law since it helps protect police and fire personnel when they’re in the dangerous position of being on the side of the road with traffic rushing past just feet away from them,” Haveman wrote. “However, they never specify how much you should slow down. They just say move over or, if you can’t move over, slow down. Is slowing from 60 mph down to 55 mph enough? Obviously not, but how much is enough to, first, fulfill the law and, second, to protect emergency personnel?

“I think some clarification would be helpful and, perhaps, result in more drivers slowing down appropriately when they see emergency personnel on the side of the road.”

We turned to Sgt. Mark Francis for the answer to this one.

While the law is technically lenient, troopers would appreciate extra caution, he said.

“To fulfill the law, you only need to slow down less than the speed limit. So 59 mph in a 60 mph zone technically would suffice,” Francis said. “In my opinion, slowing down (by) 5-10 mph would be safer for us and seems reasonable and prudent.”

Have a question? Email us at streetsmarts@heraldnet.com. Please include your first and last name and city of residence. Look for updates on the Street Smarts blog.

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