Police to Drivers: We Need Room To Work

LAKELAND | Although Florida's Move Over law has been in effect for six years, law enforcement agencies are now pursuing its violators with more persistence.

The law, passed in 2002, requires drivers to move over one lane when an emergency vehicle is stopped on the side of the road with its emergency lights on. But if moving one lane over isn't an option, drivers are required to slow down at least 20 mph below the posted speed limit, according to state reports.

So why the six-year wait for enforcement?

Primarily, it was because not enough funds were available from the state for an awareness campaign, officials said.

"It received little advertising," said Sgt. Steve Gaskins, a spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol. "We wished they had done a lot more. This problem has persisted the last six years."

From the inception of the law through last year, 1,698 officers or drivers statewide have been injured on the side of the road while inside their vehicle, 131 were injured while outside their vehicle and two were killed.

"It's dangerous working on the side of the road," Gaskins said. "The time it takes you to write out a citation on the interstate, about 1,000 cars have passed you."

Last week, law enforcement agencies around the state participated in a large-scale campaign to educate drivers on the law. For the first four days, Monday through Thursday, drivers violating the law were given verbal warnings. But Friday through Sunday, they received traffic citations.

A citation can bring a fine of about $120.

FHP's Troop C, which includes Polk, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando, Citrus and Sumter counties, wrote 73 citations in the three-day period.

And during the four-day period, 667 overall warnings were issued by troopers, most of which were for the six-year-old law.

"The primary focus was to educate the public," Gaskins said. "It's not been as widely publicized as we would like."

In a one-day push to educate drivers earlier this year, Lakeland police gave 106 Move Over warnings along Harden Boulevard, between the Lakeside Village shopping center and Beacon Road.

"We realize many drivers do not move over or slow down as required out of ignorance to the law rather than to indifference," Bill LePere, Lakeland's assistant chief of police, said in a report.

"While ignorance is not a defense, we believe there is a need to educate the public before engaging in aggressive enforcement efforts."

[ Jeremy Maready can be reached at 863-802-7592 or jeremy.maready@theledger.com. ]