A little background first: A few years ago, a Nashville police officer thought it was a brilliant idea to park her car halfway in the fast lane on I-40. She was stopped to help a motorist, but she parked just over the crest of a hill. Tragically (and yet entirely predictable and avoidable), she was killed when a fully loaded truck was unable to go from 65 to 0 in 75 yards.
The legislature acted like it always does when an idiot gets themselves killed and passed a law. Unfortunately the law was not “Don’t be an idiot and unnecessarily park your cruiser in the line of traffic.” No, the law is “If an emergency vehicle is parked on the shoulder, you must vacate the lane next to them or slow down.” Effectively, this turns 3 lane interstates into 2 lane interstates whenever a cop pulls someone over. Or if they’re running radar. Or if they’re just having donuts. Officer Safety, and all.
Second piece of background for you: The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) has these trucks that go around Nashville interstates and proactively eliminate congestion. Basically, they help with stalled cars, flat tires, traffic flow, etc. Really good concept, even if the libertarian in me thinks that’s on the fringes of government’s role.
Their mission statement reads in part:
The mission of HELP is to minimize traffic congestion, promote the safe movement of people and products, and improve the travel environment.
You probably know where this is going.
TDOT now says these HELP trucks are emergency vehicles, and that you have to move over or slow down if one is parked on the shoulder. Yes, now those trucks will actually reduce available throughput on local interstates.
In order to save traffic, we must destroy it!
[...] Takes a decent idea and makes the whole thing worse. [...]
It will probably not surprise you to find that these laws are nationally coordinated by various lobbying organizations and have been rammed through pretty much every state legislature.
http://www.moveoveramerica.com/
I want some laws to make my job easier too!
North Carolina passed a similar law 2 years or so ago. The outcome is exactly what you’re expecting, plus a wrinkle you might not have considered–drivers hurrying to move over a lane and causing accidents.
It’s quite festive at times.
We’ve got that law in Alabama too.
Yet another case where a clueless and idiotic someone decided that “a good idea” should be a law. *headdesk*
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I just about smooshed a motorcyclist in my blind spot the other day trying to get over because a state patrolman apparently thought that the shoulder was another lane. So they make it safer for the cops but cause accidents in all the other lanes…
Ease traffic congestion my ass, those yellow trucks cause most of the problems around Nashville interstates. They have no problem either cutting across multiple lanes of traffic to get to the shoulder, or gunning it and jumping out into traffic from that shoulder. Now that I’m on a day shift schedule I see these trucks causing either jams or near miss wrecks on a weekly basis.
Wyoming: if you see an emergency vehicle with it’s lights on, you must slow down to (speed limit) – 20 mph. If safe to do so you must also vacate the right most lane.
Mind you, WY has the population of a small suburban county spread over the entire state. Most of the interstates are marked at 70 for a speed limit. I was going 76 for hours at a time and passing nobody. A few times every hour someone would pass me doing 80.
I really didn’t have a problem with the WY law.