Here’s when you can pass in a no-passing zone

Trooper Steve explains how to safely pass

A viewer wants to know, “Can I pass a vehicle that has its hazard lights on but we are in a no-passing zone?”

It’s always easy to spot the driver that you need to stay away from when it’s raining outside. It’s that driver that once the rain starts to fall you see those flashing hazard lights but what happens if you find one of these beautiful traffic unicorns on a two-lane road?

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FL ST 316.0875 details the rules and regulations in a no-passing zone. It also includes information about where there are exceptions. Within subsection three, the statute language includes information regarding an obstruction in a roadway. An obstruction could be anything really and you have to be careful when encountering this situation.

Let’s use the speed limit as our gauge on the term obstruction. You’re traveling in a 45 mph zone and you encounter one of these drivers traveling at 15 mph. This would obviously begin to cause a serious issue in traffic. Build-ups can happen and crashes are also possible. I would constitute this as an obstruction to the roadway. A more obvious one would be a completely disabled vehicle. If you decided that you were going to overtake or pass this obstruction you would have to do it with extreme caution. You would not pass this at a high rate of speed, you would make sure there was no oncoming traffic, you’d make sure that you were not in a curve in the roadway and obviously that you could pass this obstruction without a problem.

Now if you encountered a driver with their hazard lights on and they were doing 45 mpg in a posted 45 mph zone, then no, you would not be able to simply pass this vehicle because they are doing the current speed limit. However, I would advise to stay away from drivers like this because let’s be real, you just never know what’s about to happen.


About the Author:

Steven Montiero, better known as “Trooper Steve," joined the News 6 morning team as its Traffic Safety Expert in October 2017. A Central Florida native and decorated combat veteran, Montiero comes to the station following an eight-year assignment with the Florida Highway Patrol.

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