The Times is doing a series of articles highlighting common laws and rules. Today, we explore the law requiring people to yield to emergency vehicles. To suggest a law for The Times to highlight, contact the writer.
A police officer is more likely to be run over during a roadside traffic stop than he is to be shot or stabbed, according to police statistics.
That's why Indiana enacted a "move over law" that requires motorists who see a stopped emergency vehicle on the side of the road to, if they're on a four-lane road, switch lanes so they are not in the lane next to the stopped emergency vehicle. If the motorists can't safely get to the other lane, they must slow down and cautiously drive past the emergency vehicle.
Motorists must move over for police cars, fire trucks and ambulances. They must also move over for recovery vehicles and highway maintenance vehicles.
Indiana State Police Sgt. Ann Wojas, who has lost fellow troopers to roadside crashes, said state police will do crackdowns throughout the year to enforce the move over law. Troopers will stop one motorist for a traffic violation, then will have a second police car in the area to catch people who aren't moving over while passing the traffic stop.
The same law that requires people to move over for stopped emergency vehicles also requires people to pull to the right and stop when they see an emergency vehicle approaching them and trying to get past them. Emergency responders say people who fail to pull over delay the emergency responders' response to serious medical calls, fires and traffic accidents.
Violators of either section of the law face a ticket.
Wojas said a lot of the people who fail to yield to emergency vehicles do it because they are distracted by their loud music or aren't paying attention. But she said there are some truckers who intentionally try to drive inches away from a stopped police officer.
Wojas said truckers engage in "dusting," which is using the force of air from their passing truck to get a trooper's hat to fall off. Before Hoosier Helpers provided roadside assistance to motorists with flat tires and other problems, truckers would try to get a trooper's car jack to blow over.
"It's an eye-opener out there," Wojas said.
When Wojas makes a traffic stop, she often approaches a stopped car on the passenger's side so she's not exposed to the rushing traffic. Still, she said it's amazing how many motorist drive directly toward a stopped emergency vehicle instead of away from it.
Valparaiso police Sgt. Michael Grennes said it is common for people not to see a fully illuminated fire truck that is trying to get through an intersection, and it is common for people to get dangerously close to police officers out on traffic stops.
Grennes has a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration training DVD that has video footage of numerous officers getting run over on traffic stops. The DVD states 39 percent more officers are killed due to traffic stops than from felony acts.
Wojas said police ask motorists to pay attention and watch out for not only emergency vehicles, but also for people doing road construction.
