Officials Want Mississippi Drivers To Move Over

Not enough Mississippi drivers are moving over for law enforcement and road crew members working on the state's highways and roads. MPB’s Phoebe Judge reports on how that could be a deadly mistake.

Mississippi Highway Patrol Corporal Johnny Poulos is standing alongside the highway in Biloxi as cars whip by at 70 miles an hour.

“Right now we are just west of the Woolmarket exit, 1-10. Major thoroughfare coming from Louisiana thru Mississippi to Alabama.”

Just down the highway from where Corporal Poulos is parked sits a brand new sign reminding drivers of the Move Over Law. That law passed two years ago, requires motorists to yield or move over for emergency vehicles and road crews. Wilile Huff with the Mississippi Department of Transportation, says in the last three years four MDOT crew members have been killed by passing vehicles while on working on Mississippi roads. Which is why he says the law is so important,

“That extra 12 or 14 feet gives them a safety zone for them to be able to move and not worry about a car coming by. It’s very very unnerving to be standing on the side of a highway and a car or truck to come by at 80 miles an hour and they are about a foot away from you.”

That’s a feeling that Corporal Poulos knows all too well,

“Just picture yourself trying to change a flat tire out here, would you not want someone to move over if you are changing that flat? It is the same way on a traffic stop, we just want people to move over.”

Seventeen new signs advertising the Move Over law have been placed around the state, and MDOT says more are to come. Violating the Move Over law results in a misdemeanor traffic violation, with a fine determined by a court judge.