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Pennsylvania’s move over law was implemented with safety in mind. It is also important for you to understand what this rule entails because of the hefty fines that are associated with breaking it.
In fact, if you received a ticket for violating the Keystone State’s move over law, you may want to consider hiring an attorney to defend you in traffic court.
This article will highlight all the aspects that you need to know about when it comes to the move over law in Pennsylvania, including its definition, violation penalties, the vehicles it covers, and more.
Pennsylvania’s Move Over Law
Under Pennsylvania’s traffic laws, drivers that are moving towards an emergency vehicle that has its lights turned on or flashing must switch to a left lane.
When this isn’t possible for safety reasons (such as on a highway with multiple lanes and fast-paced traffic), drivers should slow down and avoid going above 20 miles per hour.
Those who fail to change lanes or, if not possible, slow down are violating Pennsylvania’s move over law.
Penalties for Not Moving Over in Pennsylvania
When a police officer gives you a ticket for breaking the move over rules, two points will be added to your license.
Moreover, you may incur a monetary penalty. The amount of the fine depends on how many times you violated the move over law in the past, which is as follows:
- First Offense: $500
- Second Offense: $1,000
- Third Offense: A $2,000 fine and a 90-day license suspension
Just as importantly, you may end up facing further penalties in the following situations:
- The violation occurs when first responders are present in an emergency area: The above fines would double. For example, you would receive a $2,000 penalty (instead of $1,000) for a second offense.
- A first responder or pedestrian is injured or killed: $10,000 in addition to the outlined fines.
In short, you want to keep an eye out for any vehicles with flashing lights to avoid violating Pennsylvania’s move over law and having to pay the associated penalties.
What Vehicles are Included in the Move Over Law
You should change to a left lane or slow down as you approach these cars:
- Ambulances
- Emergency service cars
- Fire trucks
- Highway maintenance vehicles
- Police cars
- Sanitation vehicles
- Tow trucks
Keep in mind that the move over law only applies when these vehicles have their emergency lights flashing and are stopped or parked so that employees can perform certain job duties.
Examples include medical staff who need to move injured pedestrians into an ambulance after a crash or workers that are performing construction work.
Why Is the Move Over Law So Important
The move over law was put in place to ensure the safety of first responders and road workers. To clarify, car crashes kill more on-the-job police officers than shootings do.
Some reports also reveal that all types of emergency and road work vehicles, even those that were parked on the side of the road or highway and had their lights flashing, were hit by traffic while its drivers were performing their job duties.
Therefore, the law requires drivers to change lanes or slow down and emergency vehicle operators to turn on their lights for safety purposes.
Defenses for Not Moving Over
With that in mind, you don’t need to move over or drive at a speed that’s less than 20 mph in certain situations. That is to say that a police officer or trooper can’t give you a ticket in those cases.
Firstly, since the goal of the law is safety, you aren’t expected to move to a left lane when it isn’t safe. As mentioned earlier, this could happen on a congested road with multiple lanes or on occasions where the cars on your left are going at a high speed.
Secondly, if you fail to move over or slow down while passing a parked emergency vehicle that doesn’t have its lights on, you wouldn’t be in violation of the law.
At times, working with an expert traffic attorney would greatly increase your odds of successfully fighting a wrongly-issued ticket in court.
Hire an Attorney Through the WinIt App to Fight Your Case
WinIt’s network of highly-experienced and low-cost attorneys can help you fight your move over charge. In addition, you only have to pay them if they successfully win in court. Even then, the fee is typically 50% the ticket amount.
Not only will this prevent you from getting a violation and points on your record, but a successful challenge could free you of the hefty monetary penalties. You also save a lot on insurance!
Already, WinIt’s users in Pennsylvania saved about $120 million on insurance premiums. We processed over 800K tickets in the Keystone State.
If you are facing a ticket for allegedly breaking the move over law in Pennsylvania, we can certainly help you, too!
Here is how the process works:
- Submit: Firstly, take a picture of your ticket. Don’t have one? No problem. Just use your license plate number and our app will locate the ticket for you!
- Review: Next, upload your evidence and supporting documents on the app, and our experts will review your case.
- Dispute: At this point, you can sit back and relax. WinIt partners with world-class traffic attorneys who will start fighting the move over ticket for you while giving you updates through every step of the way.
- Save: Not only do you enjoy top-level legal services at a particularly low rate, but we don’t even charge you, to begin with, unless your ticket is successfully fought off. After you win, you just need to pay 50% of the fine amount.
With WinIt, you can sit back and allow one of our lawyers to handle everything for you. Click here to start the process and fight your move over ticket in court.
