I have been doing that for years. Does not matter who it is if I see a car on the shoulder I slow down or move to the other lane. Even if it is not a LEO, fire truck or ambulance. Never know when someone will open a door and step out and not pay attention to the traffic.

 

it does not suprise me
TX small towns, their overpriced enforcement equipment, and the infamous speed traps
i guess some cities do not have other "important" crimes to worry about

 

You're right, and I will exercise my right to vote. Unfortunately, voting against the people I don't agree with won't change the existing laws. And, like I said before, I respect the officers, and the officers' safety at all times. Again, I completely agree that people should slow down and get over....I just don't like to be "tested" to see if I will when the need arises, and "penalized" for failing the "test".

 

My best friend was struck by a car while on a traffic stop last year. He is lucky to be alive but at 34 years old he now has to spend the rest of his life blind because someone failed to slow down and move over while he was trying to do his job. This link should show you why LEO's are so particular about this law.

http://www.cliffsprogress.homestead.com/


Check out "pics from the hospital"

 

First, I agree with the practice of slowing down and/or getting over. However, it's a lot like passing laws against people committing crimes...people who commit crimes don't care about laws.

Unless I'm mistaken regarding the license plate law, it says that there can be nothing covering the plate, clear or otherwise. The reason, it is presumed, is to keep people from putting the clear "obscuring" type covers on their front plate to defeat the red light cameras. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong...

 

Very sorry to hear about that, and I am not arguing against the practice of slowing down, moving over, and giving the law the room to do their job.

I am arguing that simply to park on the side of the road, for no reason other than to radar traffic and use the law to give tickets, is total bs.

 

I totally agree. If he was not on a traffic stop and was just sitting off the shoulder than only the posted speed should be inforced.

 

I've heard about people getting pulled over for it before, so I started paying attention to it.

 

We have a similar law on the books & sometimes neither option is an option.

 

yeah, it's not just a emergency vehicle on the side of the road, it is an emergency vehicle WITH it's lights on. I don't see a problem with this. But if they are enforcing it without thier lights on, that is wrong.

 

Yep I agree, I have heard of some that place a car on the side of the road and turn on the lights then sit just past it and run radar.

 

From an LEO's mouth...."That's pretty chicken ****"

 

I spoke with state Rep Ellis today...The law was passed for LEO's to be able to identify what state a LP is from. Some of them are not easy to read with the covers on them, hence the law. He knew nothing of the red light camera thing.

 

attached to that same law is the license plate frame. If it covers any portion of any letter(s) on the plate they can issue a citation for that also

 

The Texas legislature raised the fines for all traffic offenses during the last session. Public safety was not their concern. Can you spell m-o-n-e-y?

 

Let me clarify......

I totally agree with the premise..... which is why I pulled off the freeway onto a wide and well-lit portion of the service road so as not to endanger the LEO or myself.... just common sense for both of us.

Second.... the LEO couldn't answer my question regarding the distance from the emergency vehicle when the lower speed is reached.... how far???? How about after..... can I legally punch the throttle as I pass the front of his car??? Should either of these distances change in the rain???

Third..... the LEO gets to decide whether making the lange change can be done safely; he can't see what's in my rear view mirror.

Fourth.... I don't see how disrupting the natural flow of traffic near a stopped LEO is safer.

Fifth.... if the guy is drunk, or just plain careless, what good is hitting the LEO at 20MPH less going to do? Is it inherently safer to be whacked by a 5000-pound vehicle at 50MPH than 70 MPH..... seems to me you're dead either way.

Sixth.... and this is the one I enjoy most.... the citation mistakenly has me traveling Southbound when I was going Northbound. I might suggest to the county government that when fitting the car with all the computers and lasers.... they include a compass so the LEO knows which way he's headed.

Have a nice day.... right, officer????

 

as an LEO i personally love the new law. yes most people didnt get the "memo" but.....

it does say u have to vacate that lane or reduce to 20 below the speed limit. personally i think its not only a good law its very curtious. u guys dont know what we can deal with when we pull people over....with people running or weapons etc. even a 'routine' (i hate that word) stop has its problems. remember the last time u broke down or had a flat on the highway? yeah, those cars fly by. if they at least reduced their speed some or moved out of the lane it would have made u feel much better right? anyway, im with u guys on the stupid laws like frt plate or the plate frame crap but this one is one i do like and do enforce. also, if u see a cop have someone stopped and another unit pulled over in front of the violaters car blacked out, chances are he's watching for this, watching for people to fly past his partner. now if u do it on I30 through arlington, chances are you can meet me cause this is what i do. fair warning. heheh

 

if its just sitting there. but if anotehr co worker has one stopped, ill watch out for this violation. if someone knocks their speed down even 10mph i dont worry about it, its those people who just blast by at 60 that bother me. its bad practice for anyone to pass any car on the highway like that without reducing speed some, never know when someone whos broken down will open a door at ya or come from the otehr side around the front and pop up not paying attention. ive always tried to move over or slow down for anyone on the shoulder.

 

I suppose I can see both sides of the coin, being a LEO I of course lean more towards liking the law since it helps with safety for my brothers in Texas.

I know on 2 occasions I have had close calls. Once with my back to traffic a car went by so close the side view mirror hit my hand cuff case and ripped it open and just barely grazed my ***. Thank god I am an exercise freak because if my butt was 1/2 inch bigger it would have spun my *** right out into traffic.

The other time I had to leap onto the hood of my stops car to avoid getting creamed, the passenger side rear view mirror on the passing car whacked the drivers side mirror on my stopped car.
Just blind luck I saw him coming and thought "this guy is going to hit us" and had time to head for the front of the stopped car.

Its like a bad game of Frogger sometimes!!

 

Leaving out the part about "If a police or emergency vehicle is parked on the shoulder" skewed the original message. However, most figured out what you were trying to say. As a previous poster said, we have the same law in Georgia. However, recently a small town outside of Savannah took it upon themselves to "Create" revenue by setting up a "Move Over" trap. They had one cop sitting with his blue lights on, for no other reason than to catch people that didn't move over. He wasn't even outside of his car. Another cop would pull the offenders over. Made big news around here and the judge threw it out because, for a law that is intended to save lived, the word was never put out to let everyone know about it.

I say extend the law to the poor fool that has a flat next to the Interstate. When I bought my Vette I was driving through Columbia, SC with my wife following in the Blazer. She radioed me that she needed to pull over immediately because she had a blowout. Unfortunately for me it was the left rear. I had very little shoulder to work on thanks to the clever Interstate system in Columbia. Not one of those SOBs changed lanes to give me a break. I'm just glad I got out of it alive and .... well... just got out of South Carolina period!