It mandates that motorists slow by 10 mph below the posted speed limit and, if possible, move over a lane when passing a police or emergency vehicle on the side of the road and replaces a current requirement that drivers proceed with caution and move over when passing such vehicles.
Just how many local laws are made to generate revenue from out of staters, or international tourists, that are passing through, and won't be around when it would be possible to be in court to fight nuisance tickets
https://www.abc12.com/content/news/New-law-Michigan-drivers-must-slow-by-10-mph-to-pass-emergency-vehicles-500622982.html
Seems like a pretty common sense law to me. Too many workers of all professions are killed every year by people who don't slow down and move over.
ReplyDeleteYes, and conversely, common sense when on the side of the road informs intelligent people to stay away from the traffic. So, is it the Darwin effect? Yes, that is crass, but for a moment, put aside the emotional reaction to my lack of empathy on these deaths I can't prevent, effect, or reverse, due to bad drivers that I also have no input on, can't change or prevent from their predictable destinies. People on the roadside are in close proximity to the deadly speeding vehicles, they chose to not get a safe distance from oncoming traffic... a bad decision, when if allowing time to get a blocker vehicle, like a tow truck, they could proceed with their preoccupation there, safely. Tow truck drivers, people changing flat tires, police, etc... they are aware of the danger of the traffic, but don't take the time to safely deal with the problem. High voltage linemen don't die as often... bomb, missle, and torpedo assemblers don't die as often. Hell, bomb defusers in the war don't die as often. So, isn't the problem the people on the side of the road not being smart, careful, and dealing with the scene of their imminent death with more caution really the issue? I agree, if drivers would this, that, and the other, the roads would be safer, mover smoother, and there would be far fewer deaths and collisions. But drivers are morons, do the stupidest things every day, and cause a lot of problems.
DeleteBut that isn't ever going to change because of basic American lazyness, and the drivers license tests aren't hard enough, the training isn't long enough, and I've posted about those problems a lot.
Drivers don't stay right except to pass, drive at a safe speed in rain, snow, fog... and cause a lot of problems. All of those issues would be mitigated if we had a national drivers license, in regards to all roads crossing state lines, and all drivers legally able to drive anywhere on the continent. So, why state by state individual laws and tests? Makes little logical reasoning. States rights? Versus safety and logical reasoning?
PA, and I think Jersey, have a very similar law.
ReplyDeletewe do here in California too
DeleteGeorgia too. Called the Move-Over.
ReplyDeleteAll 50 states now have a "Move Over" law.
ReplyDeleteAll 50.
Is it that hard?
Then why isn't it a national law? Is it that hard? Why not a national drivers license? After all, nothing keeps a car, truck, bike or rv from moving along until it's no longer in the state where the driver got their license, and when getting a license to drive, you're getting licensed to drive everywhere the roads continue.... so, shouldn't the requirement of knowledge and ability be far more than it is?
Deletethe requirement of ability and knowledge should be far more than it is now.
ReplyDeleteright now anyone can get a license, you dont have to be able to read english, or read the signs, no even be in the US legally, alot of sanctuary states give DLs to illegal alien immigrants ,
most places if you can drive around in a parking lot without hitting the orange cones, you get a DL,
but I disagree on the national license, we should be going the other direction, with the states finding the backbone to take back some of the power that the feds have sucked up.
that topic of states and the feds, isn't related to vehicles, in my mind. So, I'll pass on that political discussion. I heartily agree, far more knowledge and ability, and training, to get a DL, and it's an outrage to give illegals a DL. We don't give DLs to tourists! They actually would like to rent cars and scooters and blow money when they get off the Loveboat, when it docks here in San Diego. The scooter places I was popping into were not happy to turn away so many tourists, who can rent scooters EVERY OTHER country they stop in, just as we Americans do
Deleteoh I forgot to add,
ReplyDeleteyou should ALWAYS move over when ANY vehicle is stopped on the shoulder ,
you never know when someone will open a door, step around the vehicle into traffic, dogs or kids run into the road, or the moron driver pull back onto the road right in front of you.
when I see a car on the shoulder, I assume the idiot will pull back out right in front of me, and about half the time thats exactly what they do.
I agree... but, in high density freeway traffic in So Cal, there are a lot of shoulder vehicles, and not much space to get into the lane to your left. Often. The 5 is 3 lanes wide in some places, with no shoulders on either side, the 405 can be 6 lanes wide, and 15 mph, for miles... the whole situation is not good.
DeleteHowever, the point the I was making seems to have been lost. When are tourists and travelers supposed to learn local laws as they drive state to state? Why are we given state licenses when the roads go coast to coast and border to border? What's so hard to see when looking at a map, that the roads don't stop at the state borders? A national drivers license, like most other countries, is a better plan. Even an international license, so foreign tourists who want to rent scooters or cars, can spend more tourist dollars in our country, just like we do when visiting Italy and renting Vespas, or scooters in the Bahamas, Mexico, Japan, etc