A bipartisan pair of lawmakers are proposing harsher penalties for drivers who fail to move over for an emergency vehicle if his or her actions result in injury or death after two Northeast Ohio officers were killed while working on the side of the highway.
Ohio’s “move over law” requires drivers to move for stopped emergency and public service vehicles with their lights flashing. If they’re unable to move over, they must slow down.
The current penalty is a minor misdemeanor, punishable only by a fine and possibly a license suspension. New legislation in the Ohio House would raise that to a first-degree misdemeanor if someone is hurt or killed as result. The driver could spend up to 180 days in jail and be fined up to $1,000.
Reps. Tom Patton, a Strongsville Republican, and Brigid Kelly, a Cincinnati Democrat, plan to introduce the bill this week or next. They said the move over law is essential to ensuring police officers and emergency personnel stay safe.
“This is something we hope will educate, inspire people to drive professionally and drive carefully,” Patton said at a news conference. “Understand what you’re dealing with here — you’re dealing with a life.”
Ohio Fraternal Order of Police President Jay McDonald, a major with the Marion Police Department, said no statistics are kept on failure to move over accidents, but the union is hearing more and more from officers of such incidents.
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