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Police officers serious about enforcing new law
by Peter Cvelich, Wake Weekly Summer Intern
In a year, North Carolina's rubberneckers will have to put some distance between themselves and that trooper making an arrest on the side of the highway or they'll see their wallets take a hefty hit.
Gov. Mike Easley approved a bill on July 14 increasing the penalty tenfold for motorists who violate the state's Move Over law, which seeks to protect emergency personnel from dangerous collisions while they perform roadside stops. Previously, drivers were reprimanded with a $25 citation, in addition to $100 in court fees, for failure to give a buffer to law enforcement or emergency vehicles parked on the shoulder. When the amended law takes effect on July 1, 2006, violators will be stuck with a $250 ticket, court fees and could face misdemeanor charges in the event of a collision that causes injury or property damage valued over $500. If a serious injury or death results from the accident, the driver responsible can be charged with a felony and have their license revoked for up to six months, according the new statute. Specifically, the Move Over law, first enacted in 2002, requires motorists to change lanes away from the lane nearest any law enforcement, fire department, emergency or other authorized public service vehicle standing within 12 feet of the roadway and running its flashing lights. If traveling on a two-lane road, drivers must slow to a safe speed and be prepared to stop when passing the parked vehicles. North Carolina drivers have been slow to catch on to this mandated safety precaution, even though roadside collisions between law enforcement officers or emergency responders and passing vehicles are one of the leading causes of death in those fields nationwide. Approximately 64 state troopers have been struck by passing cars since Oct. 3, 2001, when Trooper Calvin Taylor was killed by a tractor-trailer that drifted onto the shoulder while he conducted a routine traffic stop, reported the North Carolina Highway Patrol. Taylor and fellow Haywood County Trooper Anthony Cogdill, who died in an eerily similar accident less than two years later, have been North Carolina's only law enforcement fatalities recorded in this manner. Their deaths prompted Lara Feinberg, a Haywood County trooper's wife, and others to form the organization Families for Roadside Safety and lobby the state to educate drivers on the initial Move Over law. "When the law was passed (in 2001), there was nothing done about it," said Feinberg, now president of the organization. After watching troopers continue to get hurt in roadside accidents, Families for Roadside Safety drafted the new bill presented by Rep. Ray Rapp (D-Haywood, Madison, Yancey) and Rep. Bill McGee (R-Forsyth) to the General Assembly. "That's (the troopers') office on the side of the road. This law is putting up some walls for them while they are at work," Feinberg pointed out. "With the increases in fines, it is really putting some teeth in the law," she said of the now-approved bill. "It's bad enough hitting officers, but when you hit people in their pocketbook, they take notice." The year's grace period between the governor's approval of the law and the day the law takes effect was put in by legislators to give drivers a chance to find out about the harsher penalty, Feinberg added. Families for Roadside Safety plans to raise $30,000 for a statewide awareness campaign called Project Move Over, she said. As part of the effort to educate motorists about the statute, the N.C. Department of Transportation and the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety are installing more than 40 signs that read "Move Over or Reduce Speed for Stopped Emergency Vehicles" along North Carolina's interstate and U.S. routes. "It's a learning process for the citizens," said Wake Forest Police Lt. Darren Abbacchi. Most of the tickets Wake Forest officers write for this violation are to motorists who were unaware of the law and didn't bother to change lanes or check their speed while passing a stopped patrol car, he added. Ironically, the majority of those citations occur on the interstate where there are usually plenty of lanes for drivers to safely veer away from a police car on the shoulder, Abbacchi said. However, increasing traffic congestion around the Wake Forest area is packing the roads tightly, making visual recognition of a parked officer up the road more difficult and cutting down on maneuverability, he observed. The conditions are particularly hazardous for officers on Capital Boulevard and the N.C. 98 Bypass because of the high-speeds of passing vehicles, Abbacchi said. In his estimation, 30 percent of drivers actually comply with the law. "It seems like compliance has not really been happening," but maybe the new statute will turn the tide, he said. "That's a stiff ticket." Fortunately, Wake Forest police have not had any officers hit by a passing vehicle in recent history, Abbacchi said. In an effort to enforce the law and protect officers during traffic stops, a second Wake Forest patrol car will often pull up behind the first to watch for automobiles that flirt too closely with the shoulder. For smaller departments with less manpower, like the Rolesville police, backing up fellow officers is not feasible because there are only two officers patrolling each shift, said Sgt. Philip Trivette. Yet maybe the word about moving over is spreading. "I've noticed people giving us more room than before," Trivette observed. The whole nation is recognizing the necessity for move-over laws as well. As of 2001, North Carolina and only four other states had such a law; now, about 35 more have adopted their own, Feinberg said. Although Families for Roadside Safety wanted to see a much longer license revocation than six months in the final statute, Feinberg and her partners are thrilled with the outcome. "Personally, I hope a citation never has to be written," she said. "It is time that we as motorists take responsibility."
Last Updated On: July 21, 2005
Copyright 2005 The Wake Weekly