TEXAS POLICE ENFORCE NEGLECTED STATE LAW

Corpus Christi police were out on the prowl Monday February 19, looking for drivers violating the Move Over law - a state law that police say local drivers have been ignoring, even though it has been in effect for the past two years. The Move Over law deals with driving practices when a driver encounters a patrol officer that has pulled over a speeding driver. Once a car is pulled over, other drivers have one of two options: Move out of the adjacent lane or reduce their speed to 20 miles below the posted speed limit.

For example, if the speed limit on the road is 35 miles per hour, drivers must slow down to 15 miles per hour. Police stated that this has been a state law for two years, and there's a lot of police officers everyday, their lives are put on the line when making traffic stops out here for speeders and other people just drive by them like they're nothing.

Senior Officer David Conner, along with several other patrol officers, set up shop along North Padre Island Drive and Greenwood, looking for drivers who were breaking the law by not moving over, and it didn't take long to find the violators

Conner pulled over a red Chevy for going 56 miles an hour in a lane adjacent to a patrol stop. The posted limit was 60, which means the driver should have been going 40, that's 16 miles over the legal limit.

"I cited you for passing an authorized emergency vehicle," Conner said to the driver. "There have been many, many officers who have been killed in the United States because of traffic stops on the roadway."

Conner said he hopes Monday's efforts will reduce those numbers. Officers said they had a very successful day Monday, and issued about 25 citations. Police said there is no set fine for a move-over violation. It's up to a court to decide the amount.

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