Save lives. Move over.

[Stinky The Clown]

A Baltimore cop was critically injured when she plunged 30 feet to the ground from an elevated roadway.

She will probably survive, but her life is irrevocably changed as she faces years more surgeries.

She had stopped her cop car behind a disabled car on the narrow shoulder of the roadway. She got out to assist. A tow truck showed up. The cop was between the passenger side of the disabled and the jersey barrier that was the edge of the roadway. A car approached, struck the cop car, drove it into the disabled and thence into the tow truck. In the movement of all the vehicles, the cop was struck and knocked over the jersey wall to the ground below.

The accident is still under investigation and no arrests have been made or charges sought.

Maryland has a "move over" law. If you come upon any vehicle stopped on the shoulder, the law says you're to move over a lane and slow down as you pass.

I never knew of this law until this news story, where it was highlighted, but have always done the "move over." My Dad taught me to do it way back when I was a kid.

That cop would be okay today if another driver had done the same thing. This may well have been a true accident, by the way. The driver wasn't speeding and wasn't drinking. The back of the cop car was protruding into the travel lane. The road is notoriously narrow and notoriously dangerous. Many cops won't make any but emergency stops on it. The accident was during rush hour, on an uphill with limited sight lines. The "move over" may not have been possible.

Still, the lesson is there. If you can, slow down and move over when you see activity on the side of the road. Its just a decent thing to do, seems to me.

[NYC_SKP]

1. On the Interstates I see trucks to this regularly. It's the decent thing for all to do.

Recommended.

[alcibiades_mystery]

2. I've always done it as well

Indeed, when I see people NOT do it, I wonder what they're thinking. It's not only a matter of safety for the stopped vehicles, but it is safer for you to not be passing stopped objects that closely.

[flvegan]

3. The lesson? Pay fucking attention.

I cannot fathom how someone la-di-das into a car protruding into the travel lane. Christ, if I built a cement wall in the lane could you avoid it?

Don't just move over when you see it. Pay attention every time you sit in that seat with the 2 or 3 pedals and that steering wheel thing. Oh, and as a reminder...pay attention the whole damn time you sit there.

Idiots.

[Swede]

5. And then add texting into the whole mess.

Driving is the most dangerous thing most people will ever do,if on they could get that through their heads.

[flvegan]

6. Don't even get me started.

Every day during my commute, I see idiots looking down at whatever device they use for communication while they swerve in and out of a couple lanes. All I want to do is stop them, and shout "Guess what??!! Whatever dumbshit you just communicated is JUST NOT THAT IMPORTANT!!! Shut up and drive, before you make mourners of your friends and family...to say the least."

[MrScorpio]

4. Move over, slow down… It's the law! nt