ORLANDO, Fla. – Beginning Jan. 1, Florida’s expanded ‘Move Over Law’ went into effect.
Florida’s expanded “move over” law now requires drivers to move over for stopped vehicles that are displaying warning or hazard lights, using emergency flares or emergency signage, or if they are stopped with at least one person present.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, in 2023 there were 176 crashes throughout the entire state that came as a result of people not moving over and nine of those crashes resulted in serious injuries.
FHP Lieutenant Tara Crescenzi said she felt the changes were necessary to keep everyone on the road safe.
“With the crashes and the data that we’ve seen, these are preventable crashes,” Crescenzi said. “And they not only take our officers away from their families, but it also takes members from our communities.”
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Crescenzi said the safest way to follow the new law, is to pay attention to the road.
“If you see lights up ahead on the side of the road, that could be a law enforcement officer coming to a stop, that could be a sanitation vehicle, that could be a tow truck or it could be a disabled motorist,” Crescenzi said. “So just move over the lane. And if you see there’s traffic to the left of you and you’re not going to be able to move over to the right of you, reduce that speed as much as you can.”
Central Florida resident, Carlos Figueroa said he found himself needing to change his tire on the side of Interstate 4 on New Year’s Eve. He said he’s glad to see the “move over” law get expanded.
“You know those cars are going very fast and you don’t know if people are distracted with cell phones or on the radio so you want to be sure you’re okay when you’re doing that,” Figueroa said.
For more information on crash statistics, click here.
To read more about this law and other new laws going into effect, click here.
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