MTAC Testimony: Act concerning moving over when approaching certain emergency vehicles

MTAC president Joe Sculley submitted a testimony this week in response to a bill requiring drivers to reduce the speed of a motor vehicle to twenty miles per hour when approaching a stationary emergency vehicle on the shoulder, lane, or breakdown lane of a highway.

In the testimony, Sculley said that MTAC “Opposes” the proposed piece of legislation, and that the bill would end up creating more safety issues than it would address. “Asking motor vehicles to slow down to 20 miles per hour on a road with a speed limit of 65 miles per hour is dangerous. If a passenger car slams on their brakes after coming around a corner and seeing emergency vehicles in the breakdown lane does so with a tractor trailer behind them, that has great potential to cause a tragic accident. Large trucks cannot stop as quickly as passenger cars can.” Sculley told law makers.

Sculley also explained that an already existing law requires motorists to move over when approaching emergency vehicles in a breakdown lane, and this bill would undue safety progress that has been made regarding this issue.

The full testimony is available as a PDF here.