Ahead of another busy long weekend on highways and roads, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is reminding drivers that paying attention to what’s happening on the roadside is just as important as keeping an eye on the road.
Hundreds of drivers ignore Ontario’s Move Over law every year, denying police and other emergency personnel the safe space they need to carry out their duties on the roadside, according to a news release.
In 2022, the OPP laid 846 charges against drivers who failed to slow down and move over a lane, where safe to do so, when approaching emergency vehicles with their emergency lights activated. The OPP has laid more than 600 such charges so far this year.
As well as watching for drivers who fail to comply with a law designed to make roadside emergency responders’ jobs safer, the OPP will be working around the clock to ensure motorists are driving attentively and within the posted speed limit, are not impaired by alcohol/drugs and that all vehicle occupants are buckled up, police said.
So far this year, the OPP has responded to 188 fatal roadway collisions in which 205 people lost their lives — up 15 per cent over this time last year.
Since 1989, five OPP officers have been killed while on duty on the roadside after their vehicles were struck by approaching vehicles.
Ontario’s Move Over law carries a $490 to $2,000 fine, plus three demerit points, upon conviction. Subsequent offences carry a $1,000 to $4,000 fine, possible jail time of up to six months and suspension of a driver’s licence for up to two years.
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