Cops are 1000 points
A reading from Paul’s letter to the Internets, via the Roadguy blog, on a recently-passed law requiring drivers to move over a lane when they see emergency vehicles on the side of the road:
It’s not that I’m in favor of patrol cars and officers being hit while they perform their duties on our roadsides. Having been “rear-ended” twice in my life, I’m not in favor of anyone — patrol officer, EMT, firefighter or civilian — being hit on the side of the road. But I’m pretty sure that it’s not happening due to the lack of a law forbidding it or because drivers just don’t care who or what they hit.
Once again, the Minnesota legislature has passed a band-aid law instead of addressing a deeply-rooted problem. Hooray!
And how do they plan to enforce this? Don’t people generally make an effort to get over when it’s safe/possible anyway? Will this mean gawker traffic will be even slower because now everyone has to get over, too, instead of slowly passing by. If the nearest emergency vehicle is involved in what’s going on in the side of the road, how are they going to pull people over? Dumb.