According to to a report posted on the Target 12 website, the recently passed Move Over law, requiring motorists to change lanes or at least slow down when passing an emergency vehicle, simply isn’t working. Target 12
wired up a state police cruiser and went undercover to put the law to the test. We also had Trooper Jacques “pull over” one of our undercover cars on a local highway.
One car passed dangerously close to Trooper Jacques as he got out of his cruiser. A tractor trailer passed so close to our car that it rocked the hidden camera. And the trend continued, car after truck, blatantly ignoring the law.
Why does this matter? If motorists don’t bother to obey a law, even when this law directly involves how they should interact with police, what makes anyone think they will head a 3-foot law for bicyclists? Representative Gemma, Newberry, Fox, and Schadone have introduced such legislation (H7243), which would introduce something similar to other state 3-foot laws into our motor vehicle codes. We worked with Representative Gemma last year to try and amend this 3-foot legislation into something, which we felt would be more effective, and will be doing so again this year.
The current bill is scheduled for a house hearing on Wednesday March 24th in the House Judiciary Committee. We will release our revised suggestions prior to this hearing and may be asking for cyclists to come out in support of the changes. Stay tuned…