Deputy Tim Johnson of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin is lying in a hospital bed with a traumatic brain injury. In January, Tim was plowed into by a car as he worked the scene of an earlier accident. Today, his family is pleading with motorists…Move Over & Slow Down!!!

We hear the same stories, just like Tim’s, all of the time. We don’t take the time to publicize the law until it is too late. Fortunately, Wisconsin’s Move Over Law was already in place, but was enough being done to educate motorists about it? All we can do is beg and plead with any law enforcement, emergency responder or towing and recovery agency…DO SOMETHING BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!

Stop relying on other people to do the work. Take the time, take the funds and do something yourselves. Whether you are a police chief, sheriff, EMS director, towing and recovery owner, whoever you are, PLEASE take a moment a listen. There are MANY low cost ways of publicizing the Move Over Law where you live and work:

Do you have a large factory in your town? Type up on a sheet of paper MOVE OVER & SLOW DOWN FOR STOPPED EMERGENCY and PUBLIC SERVICE VEHICLES! Get out a couple of reams of paper and copy it! Then, take it to the factory and ask the owners to have the flyer attached to each person’s paycheck.

Go to your local newspaper editor, radio station owner, television station producer and ask them if they would be willing to help you with a Public Service Announcement in order to save your officer’s lives.

Order MOVE OVER bumper stickers from FORS for all of your fleet vehicles. I will get them for you at cost if I need to.

Next time you do a license check, write a ticket, assist a motorist, give the driver a Move Over flyer.

Ask the owners of your local billboard companies to donate the space for a month (we are still trying to raise $30K in NC to do just that statewide).

This isn’t rocket science folks!!! Do you have to see your friends and co-workers lying in a hospital bed before you are willing to do something? Or worse, do you have to bury a friend or co-worker in order to take the time to tell people about this law? PLEASE, I beg of you. Learn from the tragedies that the rest of us have already had to endure and be proactive.

In Mississippi, one of the remaining nine states WITHOUT a Move Over Law, a trooper approached the Mississippi Troopers Association. Trooper Calvin Mangum knew that other states had a Move Over Law, so he asked the MTA for help…As a result of the MTA’s work, Mississippi’s Move Over Law passed the house and the senate and has been sent to the governor for signing! CONGRATULATION TROOPER MANGUM and to the MISSISSIPPI TROOPERS ASSOCIATION! You are saving thousands of lives! Just don’t forget, you can’t stop at just passing the law. You have to educate your motorists, too!

Last month, our board of directors met for the first time since 2005. We had a wonderful meeting and got to preview our new website. Once completed, you will be able to post comments, make PAYPAL donations (already available-contact me if you are interested in making an online donation) and eventually be able to post your own pictures and stories. The website will also have a nice dedication to Troopers Calvin Taylor and Anthony Cogdill. Please stay tuned for its release! In addition to the website preview, we also discussed fundraising ideas which I will share with you soon [when we get it all worked out].

I have spent a great deal of time over the past few weeks trying to update our list of states with Move Over Laws. I hope to have the information available for you on the new website as well. In addition to the statutes and other bits of information, I want to get a good hold on which states are covering tow truck operators (aka public service vehicles or recovery vehicles). I currently have my list at eighteen of the forty-one states with a Move Over Law that cover tow truck operators. Additionally, I am interested in what states are doing any public education and to what extent.

It happens every day. Sometimes we can blame weather. Sometimes we can blame intoxication. Most of the time, however, we have to blame ourselves. We have to pay attention when we drive. Our lives depend on it.