Alberta’s ‘slow down, move over’ law needs revision: AMA

As we head toward our last long weekend of the summer, the Alberta Motor Association (AMA) is pushing the province to align its “slow down, move over” law with those of other provinces.

The legislation is intended to protect workers and motorists at the roadside by requiring drivers in the adjacent lane to reduce their speed to 60 km/h and move over when coming across a stopped emergency vehicle.

But AMA said Wednesday the message doesn’t seem to be getting through to Albertans.

In 2016, according to the RCMP, more tickets were issued to motorists speeding past emergency vehicles than in 2015.

AMA is calling for a change to the Alberta legislation to require all lanes, not just the adjacent one, to slow down and move over when an emergency vehicle is present.

“The problem that we have currently is that many motorists believe that it does apply to all lanes of travel in the same direction, so you see this scattered behavior where motorists, regardless of the lane they’re in, are slowing down and then you have other circumstances in fact, where they’re not,” said Jeff Kasbrick, vice president of government and stakeholder relations at AMA.

“When you have vehicles that are continuing to travel through at higher rates of speed, and then you have slower vehicles that are trying to move over, it ultimately just does not create as safe an environment as we know that we can create at the roadside.”

Kasbrick is optimistic the province will get on board, suggesting it’s a matter of when, and not if, the Notley government makes the change.

“I certainly hope so. I think when you start with the basis of wanting to keep everyone, regardless of the kind of road user that they are safe, it’s very difficult to disagree with that goal in mind,” Kasbrick said.