‘Stir Over’ Traffic Laws

Claim: Motorists in most U.S. states can be fined for failing to slow down or switch lanes when passing parked emergency vehicles.

Example: [Collected via e-mail, January 2004]

Let my misfortune be a lesson for you. This is a long story, but a must read. This indeed happened to me yesterday (12/Ten/03).

Yesterday, I was driving into town along the Southwest Freeway around 12:30 PM. I was in the far left lane doing the posted speed limit of sixty five and going with the flow of traffic. When I got over the Bissonnett/Braeswood overpass, there was an HPD squad car parked on the left shoulder with the officer standing out in front of his vehicle pointing his radar gun at oncoming cars. Your inclination automatically tells you to slow down, whether you were speeding or not.

Not a 1/Two mile down the freeway, there was another HPD officer that had someone pulled over on the left shoulder providing the person a ticket. I thought, man this was an demonstrable speed trap and kept on going. I had slowed down to around sixty at that point as now the posted speed limit was 60.

About a mile up the road, around Gessner, another HPD officer had someone else pulled over to give them a ticket and literally in front of that traffic stop was another HPD officer (yes we are up to four cop cars now in about a mile) walking around to the front of his car. Just as I was approaching him, he pointed his radar gun at me and signaled for me to pull over. I was shocked, because I know that I was going the posted speed limit (60) as I instantaneously looked at my speedometer.

The officer came to my window and said “do you know how quick you were going?” I said yes, I was going 60. He said “you were doing 58” and he displayed me his radar gun, which read 58. I said okay. He said “you failed to slow your speed down by twenty MPH or budge over to the adjacent lane when an emergency vehicle was stopped in the flow of traffic.” I said, I did not know that was a law (of course that is never a defense) and he said it was and asked for my license. The officer wrote me a ticket that carries a $200 fine for this infraction.

Come to find out, this is a fresh state law as of September 1, 2003. From the TX DPS website, the law reads:

SB one hundred ninety three requires drivers nearing a stopped emergency vehicle that has lights activated, unless otherwise directed by a law enforcement officer, to:

Vacate the lane closest to the emergency vehicle, if the highway has two or more lanes traveling the direction of the emergency vehicle; or

Slow to a speed not more than twenty miles per hour (mph) less than the posted speed limit when the posted speed limit is twenty five mph or more; or

Slow to a speed not more than five mph when the posted speed limit is less than twenty five mph.

A disturbance is a punishable by a maximum fine of $200. If the disturbance results in property harm, the maximum fine increases to $500. If the disturbance results in bodily injury, the offense is enhanced to a Class B misdemeanor.

It was signed by the governor on June eighteen and became Law on 9/1.

Origins: On one September 2003, a fresh traffic law went into effect in the Lone Starlet state. Troopers didn’t stringently enforce it for its very first ninety days on the books (they began ticketing in earnest only in December two thousand three ), which is why reaction to this fresh measure didn’t begin to surface until

three months after one might have expected it to.

The “Stir Over Act” (Sec. 545.157 of the Texas Transportation Code) requires motorists approaching emergency vehicles that are stopped with their lights flashing by the sides of roads to budge out of the lanes closest to these vehicles or to reduce speed to twenty mph under the posted limit. (If the speed limit is less than twenty five mph, motorists must slow to five mph.) This law was intended to reduce the number of injuries to police officers, paramedics, ambulance workers, and fire fighters who have all too often been winged by cars whizzing past sites where they were attempting to

carry out their duties.

“The entire idea of that law is to keep people from running over us,” said Kyle Coleman, a lieutenant with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Department. “It’s a real nerve-racking practice. You feel the wind from the (side) mirror slide across your back.”

“People were not slowing down and it’s very dangerous for the emergency services personnel to be on the side of the road,” said Tela Mange, a spokeswoman for

the Texas Department of Public Safety. “They are very vulnerable. There oftentimes are wrecks because people are not paying attention or are more interested on what’s going on in the side of the road.”

Many of those who serve have been killed by careless motorists. In 2003, among the police officers killed nationwide, thirteen were struck by vehicles while they were on duty outside of their vehicles.

In the five years since we originally published this article many other states have passed “budge over” laws, the latest being Fresh York, which in January two thousand eleven enacted a law requiring drivers approaching a stationary emergency or maintenance vehicle with flashing lights to stir to the next adjacent lane if it is safe to do so, and, barring that, to reduce their speed. All states except Hawaii and the District of Columbia now have some form of “budge over” law on the books, as do many of the Canadian provinces.

A January two thousand ten message circulated by e-mail claimed that a fresh “budge over” traffic law had been implemented in California just that month:

In California, the “Move-over” law became effective on January 1, 2010.

I desired to let my friends know about the CA stir over law. My son got a ticket on Pleasant Hill coming back from Wal-Mart. A police car (turned out it was two police cars) was on the side of the road providing a ticket to someone else. My son slowed down to pass but did not budge into the other lane. The 2nd police car instantaneously pulled him over and gave him a ticket. My son and I had never heard of the law. It is a fresh law that states if any emergency vehicle is on the side of the road, if you are are able, you are to budge into the far lane.

The cost of the ticket was $754, with three points on your license and a mandatory court appearance. Please tell everyone you know (that drives) about this fresh law.

However, California’s “budge over” law was actually passed in two thousand six and implemented in 2007, and the standard penalties for violating it are exaggerated in the e-mail :

California has had a “Stir Over, Slow Down” law for several years. The law that took effect Jan. One [2010] made it permanent and added Caltrans trucks to the list of vehicles you must make way for, which includes police cars, fire engines, ambulances and tow trucks. If you see an emergency vehicle on the side of a highway with lights flashing, you must slow down and budge into an adjacent lane if it is safe to do so. The fine [for violating this law] is around $146, with one point on your record.

(Albeit the monetary fine specified in the California Vehicle Code for an infraction of this type is “not more than $50,” the state and the county where the infraction took place typically impose extra penalty assessments and surcharges, so the total fine paid can vary from county to county and is likely to be around the $146 figure mentioned above.)

Barbara “slow down and save the life of someone who may one day save yours” Mikkelson

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