GEORGIA ‘MOVE-OVER’ LAW IS ABOUT SAFETY

An Albany school bus driver was cited Tuesday for one of Georgia’s newest and most rarely enforced traffic laws, according to law enforcement officials.

Around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, a Dougherty County Police officer was issuing a ticket on Sylvester Road when he said a Dougherty County School bus passed by him without moving over into an empty adjacent lane.

According to DCP Capt. Robert Jennings, the officer was able to finish his ticket and still initiate a stop on the bus driver. The driver, 65-year-old Annie Fay Willis, was stopped and issued a citation for violating Georgia’s “move over” law — a ticket that will cost her $284.

“It’s a very valuable and well-minded law that often is rarely enforced,” Jennings said. “But people need to realize that they have an obligation to get over into another lane if possible when they see a police officer.”

Although the law was passed by the General Assembly three years ago, Jennings said that many people don’t think about it because officers are rarely in a position to cite offenders because most of the time they’re writing a ticket on the side of the road when the offense occurs.

“People get killed every year by speeding vehicles hitting them on the side of the road,” Jennings said. “It’s dangerous out there and this is one way we can curb that.” Georgia’s Governor’s Office of Highway Safety Director Bob Dallas said in a press release about the law earlier this year that safety is the main motivation behind the law.

“That’s why Georgia’s Move-Over Law was passed three years ago,” said Dallas, “to reduce the number of injuries and fatalities to police officers, paramedics, firefighters, tow truck operators and highway maintenance workers. And yet police are still facing to many close calls, from too many careless drivers.”

Legislators changed the penalty portion of the law in 2006 allowing for jurisdictions to charge up to $500 rather than forcing offenders to pay a mandatory $500 fine for every offense. “We know that there are some circumstances where driver’s can’t get over,” Jennings said. “But in this instance there was plenty of room on Sylvester Road to get over.”