BC Highway Patrol conducts annual ‘Slow Down and Move Over’ campaign

Across the province, BC Highway Patrol conducted their annual ‘Slow Down and Move Over’ campaign, aimed at educating drivers about the importance of safely slowing down and pulling over when emergency or work vehicles are parked on the side of the road with flashing lights.

“So, we have a work crew before us on the side of the road with lights activated, we have a plainclothes officer there who is in radio contact with us here, and anybody who is not slowing down or anybody who is not moving over, he’ll radio us the vehicle description and we flag them down,” explained Const. James Ward, with BC Highway Patrol.

In the first two hours at a police checkpoint just south of Lake Country, B.C., Ward says nearly 200 warnings were issued to drivers who failed to slow down and safely pull off to the side of Highway 97.

Despite the staggering number, he says he isn’t surprised.

“I don’t know if they’re just forgetting or they’re in a rush, or they don’t know but we’re seeing a big uptake in people not slowing down and moving over,” said Const. Ward.

“Not only is it frustrating, its unnerving and its dangerous. I don’t know how many times I’ve been at a traffic stop or dealing with something on the side of the road with my lights on and somebody’s almost taken my mirror off.”

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In B.C., it is required by law to slow down and move over for emergency and maintenance vehicles with their lights flashing or for workers on or beside the road.

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“If the limit is 80 kilometres or above you have to slow down to 70 km/h and move to the left-most lane, and if the limit is under 80 km/h, you have to slow down to 40 km/h,” said Const. Ward.

Drivers caught breaking the law face stiff penalties — a $173 ticket and three demerit points – but it appears some drivers are still not getting it. Between 2008 and 2017, 230 workers have been hit by a motor vehicle on or next to a road in B.C., and 12 of those workers died as a result.

One man who was pulled over by BC Highway Patrol on Tuesday says this campaign serves as a great reminder for drivers to take a second to think about the lives of others.

“It’s a construction zone, and people need to slow down,” explained Gary Loewen, who was issued a warning by police.

“It’s dangerous for the workers, and everybody else. Its good just to warn people to slow down, it’s a work area.”

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According to Const. Ward, all it takes is about 15 seconds to slow down and pull over, but for paramedics rushing to an emergency, time is of the essence, and every second counts.

“Something so important for the public to understand is that when we get medical emergency, we have minimal time to respond to these locations,” said Ambulance Paramedics of BC’s safety director, Corey Froese.

“Sometimes we have to go through a lot of traffic, and we have to navigate the roadways in order to respond to these locations.”

Froese says drivers need to be more aware and remember how critical it is to safely get out of the way when an ambulance is responding to an emergency.

“There’s a very real possibility that you may know somebody that we’re responding to,” said Froese.

“It’s just so important to keep this in our minds and remember when we do see an emergency vehicle, how important it is to move over.”