Fines enforce need to move away from cruisers parked with flashing lights

Last Updated: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 | 1:10 PM ET

CBC News

I was not aware of this law – makes sense to me though – until someone forwarded me a chain email about it. I did my usual Snopes.com check, then googled it, and this is what I found . . .

Several Ottawa area drivers learned the hard way Tuesday about a provincial law that requires drivers to move over to the passing lane if they are passing an emergency vehicle with flashing lights. The penalty is a $490 fine and three demerit points.

Song Sing Silarack has been driving a school bus for 30 years, and thought he knew the rules. But he hadn’t heard about that one until he was stopped after passing too close to a police cruiser on Tuesday during an OPP campaign enforcing this law.

“The OPP decided to launch this blitz after a couple of close calls involving local officers,” Const. Eric Booth told CBC News.

“In one case, an officer was nearly decapitated. She had to duck quickly when a truck carrying a wide load came by fast, without changing lanes,” he said.

The law has existed for a while, Booth said, and, “indicates that when approaching an emergency vehicle with its emergency lights activated, [a driver] must slow down, and must move away. In addition, on a multilane highway they must also move a complete lane away from the emergency vehicle if it’s safe to do so.”

It’s that “safe to do so” condition that prompted one driver to decide to fight his ticket in court.

“I’m going to plead not guilty, because the law states that one has to move over if safe to do so, and I feel that, with my attention on the cars in front of me and the cars off to the side of the road, that in watching that situation rather than looking behind me to see if I could change lanes, I feel I was acting safely toward the situation at the side of the road,” said Kevin Clarke, who was also stopped by the OPP Tuesday.

The offence is one of the more expensive found in the Highway Traffic Act. If you are caught a second time, the fine goes up to $1,000. The driver could also lose his or her licence for up to two years, or even face jail time.

Const. Booth said the OPP will continue to focus on this law until the end of February.