The Ambrose-Searles Move Over Act

Help Protect the Officers
Who Protect You!
MOVE OVER
Motorists have a new law to keep in mind during
the upcoming summer driving season — the
Ambrose-Searles Move Over Act. This new traffic law
went into effect on January 1, 2011 and is being
vigorously enforced. So far, more than 5,000 tickets
have been handed out statewide. The Move Over Act
requires drivers to move over to an outer lane, away
from an emergency vehicle with activated lights
parked on the road shoulder. When that’s not
possible, drivers are required to slow down below the
requested speed limit. Although the law does not
specify a speed limit, it's important that the driver
slow down significantly and is not a risk in any way to
the officer on duty. Motorists violating the Move Over
Law may face a fine of up to $275.00 in addition to
a two-point violation if convicted.
Why is there such uproar over a law that most
people view as common-sense driving? Every year
thousands of officers and other first responders are
injured or killed by passing vehicles while they cope
with accidents or are involved in traffic stops. An
officer’s life is at risk each time he or she
apprehends a motorist. The driver might be a drug
dealer or a fugitive, or he might be concealing a
weapon. In addition, the officer is at risk of being
struck down by vehicles speeding past on the
roadway. This law was enacted in an effort to prevent
these tragedies.
“On February 15, 2006 Deputy Sheriff Ryan
Christopher Seguin was struck and killed by a
motorist as he was making a traffic stop on
Interstate 595. He was 23 years old and he was my
son,” Phil Ryan told reporters at the Move Over
Campaign press conference. “Ryan was the best
son a man could ever ask for.”
Phil Ryan then appealed to the public. “Deaths
like Ryan’s can be prevented if people would pay
attention and obey the law; that’s the real message
here — move over and save a life.”
The Ambrose-Searles Move Over Act
Governor David Patterson signed the Ambrose-Searles
Move Over Act into law last summer. Currently all states
have adopted the Move Over Act except for Hawaii and
Washington, D.C. In New York, the law is named in honor of
Trooper Robert W. Ambrose and Onondaga County Sheriff
Deputy Glenn M. Searles. Both officers were killed while
their patrol vehicles were stopped on the side of the road.
On December 19, 2002, Trooper Ambrose was
investigating a highway accident on the shoulder of I-87 in
Yonkers when another passing vehicle struck the rear end
of Trooper Ambrose’s patrol vehicle. The patrol car burst
into flames and killed Ambrose along with the driver and
the victim of the original accident that was being
investigated.
Deputy Searles was assisting a stranded motorist on
I-481 on November 29, 2003. He went back to his vehicle
to retrieve flares and he was struck and killed by a passing
mini-van that swerved into Deputy Searles’ patrol car.
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