here's my beef of the day:
OPP set to enforce roadside law
BOB MITCHELL
STAFF REPORTER
Pay attention or pay up.
If you see a police car, ambulance or fire truck parked on a highway with flashing lights, slow down and move to the next lane as soon as you can.
If you don't, you could be hit with a minimum $485 fine — for the first offence.
The penalty jumps to a minimum $1,000 fine for a second offence and could go as a high as $4,000 plus six months in jail and a licence suspension for up to two years.
The legislation has been on the books in Ontario since last April, but provincial police say most drivers have been ignoring the law.
Perhaps because they don't know it exists.
No one has been charged with the offence yet. But starting today, the unofficial grace period is over.
"Our officers have been dodging vehicles for too long ... It's time for us to start clamping down" on violators, said Ontario Provincial Police Superintendent Peter Burns, the force's commander for the Greater Toronto Region.
Four OPP officers have been killed in recent years while officers were stopped on a roadside.
Last year, 18 OPP officers were struck by vehicles while they were standing on the side of the highway dealing with motorists who had been pulled over or who needed the officers' help.
In addition to those incidents, "We've had officers having to dive over their hoods to avoid getting hurt," Burns said. "They've suffered neck and back injuries."
For the immediate future, a second police cruiser will be sent to the scene of collisions to act as a spotter.
"If somebody goes whistling by where one of our officers is stopped talking to a motorist involved in an accident or assisting them in any way, the other officer will catch them," Burns said.
Officers will still use discretion, but "all flagrant violators" will be charged, Burns said. "If they are endangering the life of our officers, we intend to send them a message."
OPP Sergeant Cam Woolley said "it's become a huge problem" throughout the province and police are concerned more officers will be injured as the weather gets worse.
Under the law, even if the emergency vehicle is parked on the shoulder, you're required to move into the next available lane, as soon and as safely as possible.
If the emergency vehicle is parked in the far right lane or on the right shoulder, you're required to move to the lane to the left.
If the emergency vehicle is parked on the left shoulder or in the far left lane, then you must move to the lane to the right.
On a two-lane road, the law doesn't require a driver to pull into the lane with oncoming traffic. But drivers should slow down as much as possible as they approach and pass the emergency vehicle.
Under the legislation, a charge can be laid for failure to slow down and proceed with caution as well as for failing to move into another lane for an emergency vehicle if it is safe to do so.
this cannot be good for traffic flow.