Apparently, if you pass a stopped emergency vehicle (including a trooper on a traffic stop) without pulling into the left lane, you can be liable for a huge ticket in Virginia. DC area drivers, take note; they can pull you over even if you're going to the limit and not endangering the trooper. I don't know about other parts of the country, but around here governments are partially dealing with their revenue shortfall by upping their traffic enforcement to outrageously persnickety levels; my sister got a ticket the other day for stopping at a stop sign for three seconds instead of the apparently requisite five. There were no other cars around--except for the cop who handed her a gigantic ticket.
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Voice of weekend experience?
Ignorance of the law is not an excuse for violating it.
Best reason I can think of for simplifying the tax code.
Even with the fine, you aren't paying anything close to the true social cost of driving a car, at least not if we follow Ms. McArdle's economic analysis of the carbon emission issue.
The state of Florida implemented this in 2002 or 2003, it was passed just before I left to move to MD. That particular law was passed shortly after several State Troopers were killed as they walked up to the car they had just pulled over.
Such a law was passed some years ago in Ohio, as well, after some policemen were hit at the site of an accident. Just past the top of a hill. In the dark. In the fog. By a speeder. It calls into question whether a more appropriate law would say, "Fines for reckless driving are quadrupled if you hit a police officer at a traffic stop" rather than "you must risk accident by swerving into the next lane at a moment's notice if you see lights ahead".
I have noted the same revenue enhancers in my area of CT- I see a near tripling of cops hanging out at stop sign intersections, and, of course, the enormous increase in intersection cameras (I see a new one nearly every day now).
I got a random ticket (in Virginia) last month for going at an "unsafe" speed for the conditions. It was raining and I was doing 30MPH in a 40MPH zone.
Worse yet, the cop didn't even have a radar reading on me.
Luckily I knew it wouldn't hold up in court and, not surprisingly, the cop never showed up. I then proceeded to berate the judge for undue harrassment from the state. He was surprisingly sympathetic. I think he was also pissed at the cop for making him waste his time with such a stupid ticket.
Revenue shortfall indeed....
The government needs the money. It isn't as though you have anything better to do with it, right? Just fork it over with a smile, and remember it is going to the Best Cause Ever -- helping government get bigger and bigger, employing more and more civil servants who can then spend more effort to make sure your money is spread around.
They passed a similar law in Wisconsin a few years ago after a Milwaukee area Sherriff was hit by a car while he was on a traffic stop. He was hospitalized for a significant period of time and almost died.
The law in Wisconsin is that you must either pull over one lane, OR slow down 20 mph below the posted speed limit. And yes, the fine for failing to do so is pretty steep.
Let me guess...got a huge ticket for not changing lanes WHILE wearing a really complicated Halloweeen outfit.
Sorry, Megan, sometimes life just conspires against fun.
To my knowledge, this has been happening since at least the 1940s whenever local revenues look like coming in well below budget. The local cops are given quotas to fill. The old-timers tell the new guys the easy ways to fill the quota given the peculiarities of local laws, traffic signing and traffic patterns.
However, some things are off-limits. The common habit of treating the speed limit on many through routes as a minimum speed (also current since the 1940s) is never tapped for revenue; though I have heard of cases where the cops fined slow drivers on these routes for obstructiing traffic.
Isn't traffic enforcement somewhat of a reverse lottery? There is a small chance that you will arbitrarily be selcted to contribute extra money to the state. How much traffic enforcement really increases traffic safety? It seems like the most dangerous drivers, the reckless, aggressive tailgaters are rarely ticketed, while people not stopping completely at stop signs or emoving with the flow of traffic at 5-10mph over the speed limit are more likely to be ticketed.
Note the difference between revenue enhancing thought and life saving thought.
I'd guess the law is to protect public safety workers; I know several people who work for tow-truck companies have gotten run over changing tires in recent years.
But high speeds on congested roads is what drove me out of Boston and home to Maine. I simply cannot process that much information that fast. And I don't believe that the speeds involved allow any driver enough time to react for a pedestrian or cyclist's safety.
Ignorance of the law is not an excuse for violating it. Best reason I can think of for simplifying the tax code.
It turns out that the tax code is the one and only area of the law where ignorance is a defense to criminal penalties; you aren't guilty of a "willful" failure to pay taxes if you are unaware of the obligation to pay. Neat, huh? (They still get you for civil penalties and interest)
VA has billboards throughout the state telling you to move to the left lane or get a ticket. Aside from which, it's just common sense so long as its safe; you can't know what's going to happen at that traffic stop, so you might as well give yourself some buffer room.
Hey Megan--a question...was your sister ticketed before or after the 31st?
If it was before the 31st, it might have been a quota stop. Cops have a quota per month to meet in tickets, and he was just looking for anyone to lay it on. If she contests it, he might not even show up.
P.S. the surest way to get a ticket is to have out-of-state plates and break a traffic law. They might let a local tailgate, but if you're a Massachusetts driver...anywhere outside of New England, you might as well have a big fat target on you. H
I am gradually getting the idea that you come from a family of law breakers.
One thing I've seen done from time to time, although it oddly doesn't seem to be SOP everywhere, is to park the cruiser at a slight angle with the front fender protruding about two feet beyond the side of the intercepted vehicle. The idea is that if another motorist cuts in too close at speed, s/he will bounce or spin out after clipping the cruiser.
The Virginia law reads that a motorist must move out of the right lane for a stopped emergency vehicle "if traffic allows". If there's a car in the left lane, you're not required to move left, just be safe. If you got a ticket for this, you could always claim that traffic didn't allow you to move over.
I'm about tired of no-work "work zones" that exist solely to double ticket revenues. There's at least 2 between Lincoln and Omaha.
Where is there a 5 second rule for stopping at a stop sign?
I'd like to see THAT one in writing......
Georgia has a similar law. You must move to the left or if that is not possible slow to 5 mph below the posted speed limit. Note this applies not just to police vehicles, but to ANY emergency vehicles.
Seems like a pretty good law to me.
I'm driving to Richmond later this week. I'm not slowing down, and I'm definitely not wearing a seatbelt.
Consider it on... like Donkey Kong.
This is one of the few laws we have in New Hampshire. I know from experience :(
Hey, ya gotta pay for universal pre-k and mental health funding increases somehow.
FYI, Massachusetts drivers are targeted outside Massachusetts because... Massachusetts drivers are godawful, reckless beyond belief, and a danger to all things near a road. There's a reason the term "Masshole" was coined...
there is no 5 second stop rule, the rule is that your vehicle must come to a complete stop (your wheels must stop moving at least once) before moving again, and you must give right of way as necessary at stop signs.
I have a police officer friend who told me about a practice known as leapfrogging. In it, two police cars work in tandem. The first pulls over a speeder. The second patrol car then pulls in behind the first patrol car and waits for someone to come by who doesn't move over to the left lane. The second patrol car then pulls over that driver while the first officer finishes writing the ticket of the first driver. That patrol car then catches up with the second, pulls in behind, and repeats that cycle. Evidently this is very efficient at drawing in a lot of money in a very short time.
incidentally, i was entrapped - for lack of a better word - by some A-hole DC cops the other day. At an intersection near a school, in the rain, i made a legal right-on-read. There were three school buses parked on the right side of the road, a few meters from the intersection. the middle bus (not the bus in the rear) put out its stop sign just as I turned. i had no time to see the sign, and even if i had seen it i would not have had time to stop. cop pulls me over, where another person is already being given a ticket. in the rear view mirror i see that the bus has already turned off its stop sign, waiting for the next victim. No kids in sight, 10:00 am.
Jason is right: Massachusetts drivers (and I am one) are the worst in the world -- aggressive, technically incompetent, heedless. Notwithstanding all that, I read somewhere that Massachusetts has one of the lowest accident rates (or maybe it's highway death rates) in the country. Go figure.
On the changing lanes for an emergency vehicle, officers of the California Highway Patrol, at least, are trained always to approach the passenger side, not the driver's side, of a vehicle after they stop. A good rule that should be followed everywhere.
Something else that Virginia drivers might want to know: you can't enter an intersection on a yellow light. It's okay if you're already in the intersection before the light turns yellow, but you can't enter on the yellow. 3 points on the license. (4 if you enter on a red.)
Whereas in New York State, you can enter on a yellow.
What is this business about a 5-second pause at a stop sign? There's nothing at all like this in KY, TN, or AL. You just have to come to a complete stop (i.e., feel the car "rock back").
Rex,
In TN, you have to be completely out of the intersection by the time it turns red, even if you entered on a green or yellow. I got a ticket for this once. Traffic is flowing. I go through a green light. It backs up and I'm stuck in the intersection when the light goes red (big intersection). I get a ticket. :)
Rex, WTF? If there isn't some sort of grace period for entering the intersection on yellow, why even have a yellow light?
Our version of it in California is red light cameras. The idea behind them is to prevent people from unsafely running red lights when there is no cop around. But cash strapped cities started quietly resetting them to photograph those who did not fully stop behind the white line before making a legal right turn. Revenues skyrocketed, but, of course, not stopping before a right turn isn't nearly the safety hazard that running red lights is.