If you’ve lived in Florida (or if you are a regular visitor) for any amount of time you’ve assuredly seen these signs dotted along the roadways.
With a bit of intuition, you’ve made the connection that if you see a Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) vehicle with its lights on the side of the road, you will move over, to provide safe distance for the people at the incident. Simple. This will likely account for most incidents when passing an emergency vehicle on the side of the road. However, if you are on a two-lane highway, you must slow down to a speed that is less than 20 miles of the posted speed limit. Slowing down to a speed that is 20 miles per hour slower than the posted speed limit is required when you are unable to move over on a multi-lane roadway. If the posted speed limit is already 20 miles per hour, the law requires that your maximum speed is five miles per hour.
Never stop on the roadway. As mentioned above, if you are unable to move over on a multi-lane roadway or two-lane highway, that you should slow down to a speed that is 20 miles lower than the posted speed limit. It is very important that you never stop on the roadway, as that may cause another accident. Respect Floridas move over law.
Also, in July of 2014 the law was amended to add sanitation vehicles as a part of Florida Statute 316.126. Do you need legal help? We offer free consultations. Did you know we are a also licensed in New Jersey and Michigan?