What is Ohio Move-over Law?

What is Ohio Move Over Law?

In every states in United States, their governments implement relative laws that has difference because of customs and economic conditions varies as well. Their law has one goal and same target of people to regulate, but there are modifications such as their Move Over Law -- that usually starts with their respective name of the state to those states that implements it like Ohio, where they named it obviously, Ohio's Move Over Law. 

Like other Move Over Law, Ohio's Move Over Law necessitates all civilian road users to carefully switch to the rightmost lane, if applicable and if not, they ought to possibly slow down and give the right of the way to anyone driving any vehicle with flashing lights or emergency lighting from any side of the road. The purpose of this law is to protect everyone -- our government workers on our roads, its occupants and everyone who travels with them. In Ohio, the extent of protection of this law reaches to roadside workers such as sweepers, construction maintenance workers, and government implemented infrastruction improvement workers. 

Move Over Law Related Accidents

In the retrospec, Move Over Law is considerably one of the most neglected and overlooked law in the state. People tend to ignore the details and its importance evidently, because statistics shows that:

• There are more than 600 times drivers failed to move over or make distance beside the ongoing roadside construction.
• There are 341 incidents as well for not making a way for tow trucks while in duty and 200 times for not letting pass or giving enough space for snowplows.
• Law enforcement vehicles are not spared as well, as civilian road users has blocked them more than 1,000 times.

• In some cases, because of some road users that isn't following the Move Over Law, it results to some kind of accidents and inconvenience. There have been 3,541 work zone related crashes in 2020 at Ohio alone, resulting in 17 fatalities and 951 injuries.

• This has also resulted to more than 500 crashes involving police vehicles, construction and utility workers and their vehicles, and tow truck drivers being struck while working along side of the road.
• The Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP) issued 7,829 citations tickets drivers who failed to move over or slow down near roadside works or commotion in 2019.
• In a survey, participants thought that solely law enforcement and emergency vehicles are the only entity where Move Over Law is applied, 70% and declining of the participants know that it is as well applicable to construction vehicles, tow trucks and disabled vehicles with emergency lighting from government and apt people.

Consequences of Violating Ohio Move Over Laws

For the motorists who violated state's implemeted Move Over Law which idea is to protect any government-affiliated workers and its vehicle who has done some construction or conducted work along the road are bound to receive a ticket by a traffic officer and maybe even subjected to confinement to prison scaling based on one's driving and police records. The least punishment would be an assessment of $300 fine. While for a motorist who has consecutive violation for the same law or has added up with another violation such as drunk can be assessed as committment of a fourth-degree misdemeanor and will conducted with a $500 fine and jail time of 30 days. And if a driver has committed the same violated twice in the past year or any driving regulation laws, they will be conducted with a $1000 fine and jail time up to 60 days.