High-profile traffic safety campaigns are being mounted at the state and federal levels against behavior that rarely causes the most serious types of accidents. In the past several years, lawmakers have enacted measures designed to increase the punishments for driving past stopped school buses in the name of protecting children. They have also enacted “move over” laws to stop police officers from being killed at the roadside. Statistics released this month by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) indicate that accidents involving either situation are exceedingly rare.
Out of the 30,797 fatalities in 2009, 21 involved a school bus and people walking nearby. Of these, however, 13 were caused by the bus driver slamming into the pedestrians — including 7 children under the age of fifteen. Motorists were the cause in only 8 fatal accidents, or 0.0026 percent of motor vehicle fatalities. Despite the risk level, states have ramped up the penalties for passing a stopped school bus. West Virginia authorized private companies to use photo enforcement cameras on school buses last year in the name of saving children from this type of accident. Other states like Virginia impose a penalty of up to $2500.
Forty-nine states impose similarly stiff penalties for passing a police vehicle stopped on the side of the road without first changing lanes. These so-called “move over” laws were adopted in the name of saving the lives of law enforcement officers, but according to the NHTSA analysis, “Characteristics of Law Enforcement Officers’ Fatalities in Motor Vehicle Crashes,” there were only 16 accidents involving police officers stopped in a traffic lane from 1982 to 2008 (view report, 650k PDF). In fact, of all types of collisions involving a law enforcement vehicle striking or being struck by another car, there were 15 police driver fatalities in 2009, according to the latest edition of NHTSA’s “Traffic Safety Facts.” This represents 0.05 percent of all traffic fatalities.
Some lawmakers frequently tout red light cameras as saving lives from one of the most common types of collisions. There were 454 intersection-related fatalities in 2009. This figure is, however, much broader than incidents caused by red light running. NHTSA’s defines intersection-related accidents as those in which “the first harmful event occurs within the limits of an intersection or at an approach to or exit from an intersection only within a non-interchange area.” This would include the far more common rear-end collisions. Nonetheless, this larger figure represented 1.5 percent of all fatal road accidents.
Speed enforcement is also a favorite among topic among state legislatures and transportation departments. Texas raised its maximum freeway speed limit on I-10 and I-20 to 80 MPH in 2005. Utah followed suit in 2008 authorizing the posting of 80 MPH signs on a limited stretch of I-15. Despite the higher speeds, each state posted a 12 percent reduction in overall fatalities from 2008 to 2009, beating the national average of 10 percent.
A copy of the latest edition of Traffic Safety Facts is available in a 1mb PDF file at the source link below.
Source: 
Traffic Safety Facts 2009, Early Edition (US Department of Transportation, 1/10/2011)
[Courtesy:Thenewspaper.com]
The great unwashed knows nothing about the facts.
I have absolutely no problem with the move-over laws. I was related by marriage to an Indiana State Trooper that was killed on the shoulder of the Toll Road back in the early 90’s. I always at least make an effort to move over for any vehicle stopped close to a highway lane (50+ mph speed difference). It also allows you to see which drivers around you are not paying attention or have tunnel vision.
I think that is the point: many of our traffic laws and their subsequent enforcement are motivated by factors other than their actual rate of occurrence.
Changing lanes creates a measurable decrease in safety also. Stopped emergency and police vehicles already create dangerous disruptions in the flow of traffic in the vicinity. Adding to that disruption by forcing mandatory mass lane changes had better be backed up by some sort of evidence that it helps. Otherwise, it’s just “feel good” legislation, and is likely to make the situation worse.
The statement that there were only 16 accidents involving police officers stopped in a traffic lane between 1982 and 2008 being presented as some sort on indictment of “move over” laws is not factually correct. The report linked in the article reports that there were 16 fatalities, which is a significant distinction. The number of collisions and persons injured, but not killed, in those collisions would be much higher.
Furthermore, that data point focuses on collisions that occurred in a through lane or traveled portion of the motorway, and does not include accidents that occurred on the shoulder. Most police traffic interactions occur on the shoulder, not the traveled portion of the roadway. The study cited doesn’t make the distinction.
Dukeboy01: The number of collisions and persons injured, but not killed, in those collisions would be much higher.
Fine – do you have an actual number to support this contention? I would imagine that you could easily find it, as police departments would keep careful records of officers injured in this manner for benefits purposes.
Geeber: Those numbers would be in Traffic Safety Facts or GES.
geeber,
The newspaper reports incidents as rare and then post fatality statistics and now injuries, close calls, or occurrences. It is easy to discard a report that doesn’t take into account all the facts when the report says it doesn’t. To me, it implies that the data isn’t in their favor.
Exactly, Steven02.
The Officer Down Memorial Page lists the biographies of all law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty each year, along with the circumstances of their deaths. They have categorys for Automobile accident, motorcycle accident, struck by vehicle, vehicle pursuit, and vehicular assault. The category “Struck by vehicle” is used for those incidents which are ruled accidental where an officer is struck and killed by a vehicle while outside of his vehicle. This is different from the “Vehicular Assault” category which lists officers intentionally struck by drivers of other cars and includes incidents where the officer was outside of his car as well as incidents in which the officer was killed when his car was intentionally rammed. Incidents in which the officer is accidentally killed when another driver strikes his parked vehicle are included in the “automobile accidents” and “Motorcycle accident” categories and won’t be the focus of this post.
If we agree that the purpose of the “move over” laws is primarily to prevent accidents in which public safety workers are accidently killed or injured while working outside of their vehicle while on the side of the road or in the roadway, then we can for the limited purposes of this post focus on the “Struck by Vehicle” category. No law will magically prevent felony actions and while “move over” laws are also an attempt to limit accidents in which LEOs are injured or killed while inside of their parked vehicles, the primary vulnerability faced by the officer is when he is outside of his car and completely unprotected.
The author of this original piece pulled out the data point of 16 officers killed in the roadway between 1982 and 2008 and extrapolated from there to try to make a point about “move over” laws, applying that number to the total number of vehicular deaths suffered by the population as a whole. According to ODMP between 2004 and 2008, the last five years of the date range the Newspaper used, 51 officers were struck and killed by vehicles while outside of their car on the shoulder or while working in the roadway. This does not include the number who were killed while sitting in their car on the side of the road or in traffic, which “move over” laws also try to prevent.
A total of 832 officers were killed in the line of duty, all categories, between 2004 and 2008. The 51 killed in the (narrowly) defined category of “struck by vehicle” represent 16% of the overall total. That’s a pretty big number, all of which could be prevented if other motorists would comply with “move over” laws. “Move over” laws also attempt to protect fire fighters, emts, and other emergency workers on or near the roadway as well. I’m sure figures for firefighters are available somewhere.
The author of the original story isn’t just trying to compare apples to oranges. He’s comparing apples to orangutans.
I’m still not seeing any solid numbers on injuries. The original contention was that merely listing the fatalities doesn’t address the true scope of the problem.
And please note that “move over” laws would not have prevented ALL of those fatalities…we recently had an accident where an officer was killed at an accident scene. The driver couldn’t “move over” to another lane because traffic was down to one lane in the area where she hit the officer.
First off, I screwed up my math. 51 out of 832 deaths doesn’t equal 16%. It equals 6%. My bad.
As far as injury statistics of LEOs alone, I can’t find them. I tried to find the number of overall injuries for the entire population in a given year and couldn’t find those either. Every site I went to reported fatalities and didn’t break out injuries. Perhaps someone with better Google- fu can do better.
Common sense and all of our personal experiences tell us that injury collisions are much more common than fatals, probably by a magnitude of 10:1 or greater. How many people do you know who have been injured in wrecks compared to the number of people you know who died? I’m sure the number is out there, I just can’t find it and it’s time to take the kid to karate.
This has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with revenue. It just luckily happens to include 2 cases people can’t argue against. What kind of cretin doesn’t want to save children and cops?
It’s kind of like the “why do you hate America?” question that gets asked anytime you argue against anything 9/11 related. You’ve lost even before you start.
Yes.
If driving past a car stopped on the shoulder were a real danger then why has there never been any outcry to protect ordinary citizens stopped with a flat tire?
In Virginia this isn’t just a fine but an class 1 misdemeanor. Revenue for the state, revenue for an attorney as well.
“…there were only 16 accidents involving police officers stopped in a traffic lane from 1982 to 2008…”
The move over laws don’t address police cars stopped in the traffic lane. It addresses police stopped along the shoulder, and those accidents happen more frequently than you might imagine. People, especially at night, and especially involving drunks, tend to fixate on the flashing lights and as any motorcyclist will tell you, you tend to “go where you’re looking”, and the police vehicle ends up getting rear-ended.
Personally, I would like to see police cars start using yellow-only rear facing lights when making a traffic stop instead of the red and/or blue lights. I think it would reduce the fixation factor. After all, no one slows down and rubbernecks a construction truck, but everyone does it when they see a police car lit up.
I agree. I have read a study/article (not sure where to find it now) about using all amber’s in the rear, and there is data that shows less accidents happen.
Police cars around here also have yellow lights that usually move in a line to point to a direction away from the back of the car.
After all, no one slows down and rubbernecks a construction truck, but everyone does it when they see a police car lit up.
If only that were universally true. Around here, rubberneckers cause major traffic delays for anything stopped along the side of the highway. Tow trucks. People changing tires. Convicts picking up trash. Naked people have sex.
So, when can we further up interstate speed limits? I can think of about 1000 other areas of the country where 80, 90, unlimited should be more than acceptable….and anything is better than the 65-70 currently in many of these areas (including draconian enforcement).
As always…$$$$…wrapped in, take your pick, safety, children, cops, environment.
Unfortunately kids, that’s how we come up with laws in the U.S. of A. They’re not based on an understanding of numbers, logic and actual causes. They’re based on fear. Too wit, airport “security.” How many people died of terrorism in the US in 2007? According to the Centers for Disease Control’s mortality statistics, the answer is “0.” That’s zero.
Yet, in 2007, nearly more than 34,000 people took their own lives. We’re a bigger danger to ourselves than others are to us.
From the IIHS side-impact ratings post:
“Twenty-seven percent of all in vehicle traffic deaths in 2009 — 6,362 – were caused by side impacts.”
From this post:
“There were 454 intersection-related fatalities in 2009.”
That means fewer than 10% of fatal side-impact accidents happen in intersections – seriously? It’s going to take more than that to convince me. I love The Newspaper’s mission, but I’m finding it hard to trust their figures on this one.
Funny you’d mention Virginia (right after West Virginia). In Virginia Beach there are school crossing guards who will stop and block morning commuter traffic (you know, productive people who are on their way to work) so that school buses don’t have to wait for the traffic light to change when they are leaving the school parking lot (you know, productive people who are done working and headed home). Neato.