Conservatively Speaking

On March 7, 2006, Marc Neumeyer and Daniel Melhorn of the Winnebago County Highway Department were struck and killed as they worked on the shoulder of the road.

Closer to home, on January 12, 2007, Deputy Tim Johnson of the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department responded to an accident in the stadium interchange. Johnson was working with orange construction cones in an effort to help clear the scene. Lit flares were on the ground. Law enforcement vehicles had their emergency lights on. Clearly there were signs to oncoming motorists to slow down.

Suddenly, a driver lost control attempting to avoid a rear-end collision. The driver struck Johnson, who was thrown into a median, hitting his head. Johnson’s sister, Michelle Trawicki, says her brother is lying in a hospital, dying from severe brain injuries.

The widow of a Tennessee Highway patrol officer who was killed at the time a truck hit him in an emergency lane said, ''My husband did not fear being shot. His biggest fear was being hit rather than being shot. Sometimes motorists would drive by close enough to see if they could knock his hat off.''

Wisconsin has a Move Over Law that requires drivers to move over or slow down for emergency and maintenance vehicles. The law says that a motorist must “move the motor vehicle into a lane that is not the lane nearest the parked or standing vehicle or machinery and continue traveling in that lane until safely clear of the vehicle or machinery.” It also requires that a motorist “slow the motor vehicle, maintaining a safe speed for traffic conditions, and operate the motor vehicle at a reduced speed until completely past the vehicle or machinery.”

Violators of the Move Over Law face a $252 fine and three points off of their driver’s licenses.

So, please, move over. It’s the law.