WASHINGTON — Some drivers found themselves pulled over Friday as part of an “education blitz” by area police.
Officers from Fairfax County, Prince William County and Virginia State Police stepped up enforcement of the state’s “move over” law which is designed to protect police officers, fire and EMS workers, tow truck operators, road crews and others who often stop along roadways.
When coming upon a vehicle with flashing lights, “The law states that you’re to move over one lane or more, and if you cannot move over you need to reduce your speed,” says Master Patrol Officer John Alford of Fairfax County Police.
On the Inner Loop of the Beltway, Alford nabbed a Chevy Malibu which had whizzed past a State Police cruiser performing a separate traffic stop.
“We were backing a trooper that had stopped a vehicle for speeding … I just sat behind her and watched in the mirror for any vehicles not moving over.”
Alford says the Malibu’s driver claimed to have not seen the police cars.
“Then when I gave him the ticket he said ‘I’m a D.C. resident, I don’t know anything about this.”
That driver received a ticket and a flier about Virginia’s law. Luckier drivers received only the flier.
“Some of them will say they didn’t have the chance to move over, or they just weren’t paying attention … usually people are just apologetic,” says Alford.
While all other states, including Maryland, have some kind of “move over” law, the District does not.
The current enforcement effort has police focusing on Northern Virginia’s busiest roads, including Route 28, Route 50, the Fairfax County Parkway, the Dulles Toll Road, I-66, I-95 and the Beltway. Fairfax County Police point to statistics that more than 100 law enforcement officers have been struck and killed on U.S. highways since 2003.
