Resolutions

Highway Safety

Uniformity in "Move Over, Slow Down" Laws
Submitted by Highway Safety Committee

WHEREAS, according to the FBI’s Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted 2003, 16.6 percent of the 697 law enforcement officers accidentally killed between 1994 and 2003 were struck by vehicles, i.e., at the time of their deaths, they were conducting traffic stops or roadblocks, were directing traffic or assisting motorists, or were engaged in similar activities; and

WHEREAS, in an effort to safeguard law enforcement officers and others whose duties require them to utilize the roadside, at least 30 states have enacted “move over, slow down” statutes, typically requiring motorists to slow down and/or move over a lane as they approach police or other public safety vehicles with activated emergency lights stopped on the shoulder of multi-lane highways; and

WHEREAS, the provisions of these well-intended statutes vary widely in terms of the legislated mandates for compliance; and

WHEREAS, the effectiveness of these “move over, slow down” statutes is compromised by motorists’ inability to comply with inconsistent requirements; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) calls upon the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Laws and Ordinances (NCUTLO) to identify these state laws and their provisions, and to develop and promote those requirements deemed essential to model legislation which will ensure the safety of law enforcement officers and others whose duties require them to utilize the roadside and which ultimately will aid in the effectiveness of these statutes, as well as in the ability of motorists to comply with them; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the IACP supports international efforts to ensure the roadside safety of law enforcement officers in countries around the world.
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