HOUSTON — If you’ve ever been stranded on the side of the road, you know how scary it is to have cars and trucks whizzing by you at highway speeds.
Those who have been hit say it’s one thing to imagine it, it’s another to see the aftermath.
Harris County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Brian Bishop is one of those people. He used his patrol car to block a lane to protect a stranded driver on the Eastex Freeway in August. Deputy Bishop was inside his truck when he noticed a car barreling toward him from behind.
“I had to protect that stranded motorist, so I was a sitting duck, as they say," Deputy Bishop said. "I closed my eyes and just started hitting my air horn to try to alert that driver, and he was never alerted until he hit the back of my vehicle.”
That driver failed to follow the state’s Move Over or Slow Down law. It requires drivers in Texas to move over a lane, if possible, when coming up on an emergency vehicle parked with its lights on. If that’s not possible, drivers must slow down to at least 20 miles an hour below the speed limit.
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The same goes when drivers see TxDOT crews, construction vehicles, and utility workers.
AAA says one out of four Texans surveyed is unaware of the law.
“In America, on average every year, about 24 emergency workers are killed by a vehicle, struck on the side of the road," said Joshua Zuber with AAA.
That’s why those who have survived those crashes are sharing their stories today.
“We’re there to help, and so we’re just asking for them to actually help us back," Deputy Bishop said.
Drivers who don’t follow the law can get a ticket of up to $200. If they cause a crash that injures a worker, the fine can jump up to $2,000.