Sorry to bring this up again..This is for those who are ignorant of the law.
By Andria Simmons
Staff Writer
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LAWRENCEVILLE - When police officers stop a vehicle on the side of the road, they have to watch their front and their back.
By stepping outside the patrol car, an officer becomes an open target for hazardous drivers on the road. That's why state officials are working to publicize the importance of Georgia's Move-Over Law, which went into effect in July 2003.
The law, simply put, requires a motorist traveling in a lane next to a stationary emergency vehicle with its emergency lights activated to change lanes wherever possible. If it's impossible to change lanes, drivers must slow down and be prepared to stop.
The statute is designed to keep officers and violators pulled over during traffic stops safe from crashes with passing cars.
Officer Elton Hassell of the Suwanee Police Department grows apprehensive each time he feels cars whooshing by, inches from clipping his body, as he is trying to focus on a driver.
"It is just something else we've got to watch to keep from getting killed," Hassell said. "It's scary, believe me it's scary."
Hassell said about 90 percent of the drivers he has questioned are ignorant about the Move-Over Law.
Thirty-two other states have move-over laws with fines ranging as high as $1,000. The fine for a citation is $500.
"Anyone who works alongside our highways is vulnerable, but police especially are in constant danger," said Bob Dallas, director of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety. "All too often, they've been 'winged' by cars whizzing by when officers approached vehicles pulled over during traffic stops. By July of 2005, four officers have already been killed by passing motorists in this country this year."
Although it has been more than two years since the Move-Over Law was instituted, the Governor's Office of Highway Safety has created brochures for year-round distribution at police road checks and the Department of Driver Services locations.
Informational road signs will also be posted along major inbound highways near state lines, state officials said.
The message to the public is simple, Hassell said.
"If they see blue lights, please slow down or get over," Hassell said. "We don't need any more officers killed."