YORK, Maine (AP) — Maine State Police are telling motorists to “move over” when they approach vehicles with flashing lights in highway breakdown lanes.
Beginning Friday on the Maine Turnpike in York, police plan to step up enforcement of the so-called “move over” law requiring drivers to move into the passing lane, if possible, or slow down when traveling by police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, tow trucks and other vehicles with flashing lights in the breakdown lane.
For the enforcement initiative, troopers will monitor passing traffic when one of them is stopped in the breakdown lane with a motorist.
State police Col. Patrick Fleming says 16 state police cruisers since 2003 have been struck by motorists while parked along roadways.
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- This cruiser, driven by Maine State Police Trooper William Baker, was struck on Interstate 95 in Palmyra, in 2003, according to State Police. The cruiser was stationary and in the passing lane with its emergency light activated when it was struck from behind by a tractor-trailer truck.
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