(Credit: Twitter/ Austin Police Department)
The Austin Police Department will be conducting an operation to enforce the Texas Move Over Law on Wednesday. According to the state law, drivers have to vacate the lane closest to an emergency vehicle or, slow to 20 miles per hour below the posted speed limit.
It’s a law that police say is not being followed enough, often leading to disastrous results.
“We’ve had lots of tow truck operators who have been killed lately. We’ve also had a lot of police officers who were seriously injured or killed, and we just don’t see any compliance so we just feel it’s important that we start really, really educating the public about this,” says APD Detective Patrick Oborski.
APD will have approximately 18 officers during this operation.
This operation will focus on drivers not moving over for tow trucks that have emergency lights activated while on the side of the highway.
Research from AAA shows that a tow truck driver is hit and killed once every six days, making it one of the most dangerous jobs.
The Transportation Code was amended in 2013 to include tow trucks as emergency vehicles. This will be the first of a series of operations to educate the public on the law and to help protect our partners in the towing industry.
