Move Over Laws in Canada
In Canada, the move over laws are intended to encourage the fast response of emergency vehicles. These laws require motorists, upon noticing an incoming emergency vehicle (coming from any direction) with sirens or flashing lights operating, to move to the farthest right lane/shoulder and stop, until the vehicle has passed the vicinity.
The Province of Ontario's Ministry of Transportation and the Province of Saskatchewan's Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure were the first to implement move over laws. Quebec was the last province to implement a move over law, which came into effect on August 5th, 2012.
In 2005, the government of Alberta expanded the scope of the province’s move over laws. Amendments were made to the province’s Traffic Safety Act to require drivers to either slow down or move over when passing emergency vehicles or tow trucks stopped on the side of a highway when their "flashing lamps are operating." The maximum speed for passing stationary emergency vehicles or tow trucks was set at 60 kph, and the fines for exceeding that speed were doubled.
In 2012, Quebec established a Move Over Law (called in French as Corridor de sécurité, or Safety corridor). Unlike other laws found in US states and Canadian provinces, the Quebec law had broader application. Drivers would have to slow down and provide a buffer lane to a stopped service vehicle with active strobing/rotating lights or active traffic arrow. The service vehicles may be tow trucks, emergency vehicles (ambulance, police, fire), or highway department patrol vehicles.
Read more about this topic: Move Over Law
Famous quotes containing the words move, laws and/or canada:
“Propaganda is a soft weapon; hold it in your hands too long, and it will move about like a snake, and strike the other way.”
—Jean Anouilh (1910–1987)
“Natural knowledge, seeking to satisfy natural wants, has found the ideas which can alone still spiritual cravings. I say that natural knowledge, in desiring to ascertain the laws of comfort, has been driven to discover those of conduct, and to lay the foundations of a new morality.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“What makes the United States government, on the whole, more tolerable—I mean for us lucky white men—is the fact that there is so much less of government with us.... But in Canada you are reminded of the government every day. It parades itself before you. It is not content to be the servant, but will be the master; and every day it goes out to the Plains of Abraham or to the Champs de Mars and exhibits itself and toots.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)