CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — When you’re driving to work in the mornings or going to run an errand sometime during the day, you might see crews, law enforcement or first responders taking care of something on the road. If you do see them working, here’s a message from local officials to you. Move over or slow down, it’s the law.
“Any vehicles like emergency vehicles, police, fire, EMS, tow truck drivers, TXDOT,” Safety Education Sgt for DPS Sgt. Rob Mallory said.
If you see any of those vehicles, you have two options.
“You can either move over to the other lane and you can continue traveling the speed limit,” Mallory said.
But if you can’t move over safely, there’s another option.
“You reduce your speed to the lane that’s right next to them 20 MPH below the posted speed limit,” Mallory said.
Drivers are told to move over or slow down. It can protect someone’s life.
“That’s basically our office out there, that’s where we go to work. Those tow truck drivers are helping people broken down getting them out of a scary situation along with the construction crews improving the roadways so we can hopefully get to our destination sooner. That’s someone’s life. Someone’s family is waiting for them to come home at the end of the day,” Mallory said.
But the reality is not everyone follows the Move Over or Slow Down law.
“We’ve had instances where we’ve lost law enforcement officers or people have been severely injured because of that. In the almost two years I’ve been here we’ve had four patrol cars hit, three of them with troopers standing around them. Our most recent line of duty death in the department was working a crash and the driver didn’t move over or slow down,” Mallory said.
Which is why you’ll notice our local DPS joining the statewide effort next week to educate drivers and spread the word to keep everyone safe.
“You’ll see increased patrols. We’ll work in pairs together watching for folks not moving over or slowing down for those vehicles,” Mallory said.
The first time you’re caught can cost you up to $1200. If you’ve had another violation in the last 5 years, that fine can jump to $2000.
“That’s how serious that the state has taken this law,” Mallory said.
And if you’ve ever been in a similar position yourself at some point, some only hope others give you the same courtesy.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to change your driver side tire on the side of the highway. It’s not a fun experience when drivers are going 70 mph next to you. Sometimes it’s millimeters between a minor injury and us having to walk and tell a family someone’s not coming home,” Mallory said.
The increased efforts for the campaign will begin next week.
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