Defensive driving is the hallmark of a good vehicle operator, but it's also part of the law for emergency vehicles. Whenever you see police, fire or ambulances heading your way, you must move over and yield. It's a lesson taught in public schools, defensive driving schools, for-profit traffic courses, defensive driving classes and online defensive driving courses.
It's even taught in comedy driving schools, because the potentially tragic result from a failure to yield is no laughing matter.
Think of yielding to emergency vehicles as more than a civic obligation, but also a moral one - if the emergency services were coming to the aid of you or your family, you'd certainly want them to arrive with all due haste. Getting your vehicle out of the way ensures that the emergency services can proceed without interruption to its destination, potentially saving lives and property.
The Indiana law firm of Keller & Keller LLP, which specializes in construction zone vehicle accidents, claims many collisions and accidents in highway work areas happen when vehicles first enter the construction zone. The disruption of the traffic pattern is to blame, throwing drivers out of the road stupor that can occur when traveling for long periods of time and then encountering an unexpected delay.
The firm also cites driver impatience, speeding in the construction zone, heavy equipment blind spots, inattention to construction signs and poor merging as further potential causes of the vehicle incidents in such zones.
Some states are taking the obligation to their road crews one step further. As of September, 2013, Texas drivers are now required by law to move over or slow down when near state Department of Transportation workers and vehicles that are stopped with overhead flashing blue or amber lights. This is in addition to the traditional requirements to yield to police, fire and medical emergency vehicles.
The reason for the new law is the vast danger posed to workers who often find themselves exposed to the potentially fatal impact of vehicles moving through their work areas. More than 100 Texas Department of Transportation workers have been struck and killed since records were kept in 1938. With more drivers than ever on the road, the odds of tragedy happening have only increased, leading to the new state law.
Texas's "Move Over/Slow Down" law requires vehicles to avoid the lane closest to any state Department of Transportation vehicle when possible and to reduce speed to 20 miles per hour below the posted limit. For example, if the speed limit is 65, then motorists can only go a maximum of 45 miles per hour. Where speed limits are 25 miles per or less, drivers must slow to 5 miles per hour.
There are severe penalties for those who do not comply with this new Texas law. Violators face fines of up to $2,000. Many states multiply fines several times for any construction zone accident, also imposing loss of license and, in some cases, jail terms.
Specific information on driver obligations in construction zones is available from your state's Department of Motor Vehicles. But the best advice available in any work zone is common sense: slow down, drive defensively and watch out for workers and equipment.
Comedy Defensive Driving teaches the rules of the road in classrooms taught by experienced comedians. State approved and available across the nation, the courses are offered in two formats: Defensive Driving Online and Defensive Driving Classroom. It's a simple, fast and fun way to complete a defensive driving course. For additional information, please visit http://www.comedydefensivedriving.com/ .
No comments:
Post a Comment