Is it illegal for SC drivers to not get out of the way of emergency vehicles? What the law says
Most people know when an emergency vehicle of any kind approaches their vehicle with lights flashing it means get out of the way.
But did you know that you can be fined in South Carolina for not moving away when a police car, firetruck, ambulance or any emergency vehicle is parked on the side of the road as officers deal with crashes and disabled vehicles. The law includes police bicycles operating as emergency vehicles.
The fine? No less than $300 and no more than $500.
Proposed legislation would tighten that up even further with points added to your license if you violate the law. Drivers can amass 12 points before a license is suspended.
The South Carolina Senate passed the changes to the so-called move-over law and it is pending in the House of Representatives when the legislature reconvenes in January.
Joe Palmer, the executive director of the South Carolina State Firefighters Association, said the current law also needs to be more specific about how fast a driver can go when passing an emergency scene.
Right now, the law says “proceed with caution, significantly reduce speed.”
Different people will have different opinions about what that means, Palmer said.
He’s worked scenes where cars zipped by going the speed limit, steps from where he was standing.
“It is more dangerous operating on an interstate highway than it is a house fire,” Palmer said.
Palmer pointed to two side-of-the road deaths as examples of how dangerous it is for emergency workers. State law calls emergency scenes a “special hazard.”
Last August, Florence County EMT Sara Weaver was caring for an injured motorcyclist on Pamplico Highway when a vehicle drove through the crash scene. She and the motorcyclist Cedric Gregg were killed. Two law enforcement officers who were hit survived.
In 2010, 23-year-old Columbia-Richland firefighter Chance Zobel was killed and another firefighter injured as they were working a grass fire in the median of Interstate 20. A car driven by a woman, who has since been deported, rear-ended a sedan and the firefighters were hit.
Palmer said the South Carolina Department of Transportation offers a safety course for first responders as part of the National TIM Responder Training course.
Nationally, more than 650,000 responders across the nation have completed the course.
Palmer said many fire departments require responders to complete the free course.
Palmer said what he found most helpful was the training on how to stage the scene to make the flow of traffic safer, such as angling emergency vehicles to provide a buffer.
To drivers, Palmer has a simple message, “Slow down.”
