Failure To Obey Flashing Lights Continues To Plague Twin Falls ID

As a licensed driver of close to 30 years in this country, I find it hard to believe there are so many people I share the roadway with that have no idea what to do when emergency lights flash. The laws are basically the same across the United States, and yet statistics on accidents involving law enforcement vehicles, fire, ambulance, and toe trucks, are painting a very distressing picture.

I still remember taking Driver Education in high school. My football coach taught me how to parallel park, and gave me excellent pointers on dating now that I think about it. If one thing stuck in my head throughout the entire process of learning to drive, it's what to do when you see those lights approaching from ahead, or in the rearview.

We need to be mindful and not distracted when operating our automobiles. We need to be ready at all times to move safely off the roadway when an emergency vehicle needs to pass, but particularly when an ambulance is en route to an accident scene or hospital. In the United States, there are more than 6,000 accidents annually involving motorists and ambulance drivers, according to Arnold & Itkin Law. Since the invention of smartphones, these numbers have gone up in some states.

This week alone in Twin Falls, I've had two experiences witnessing distracted people nearly causing accidents during a situation involving an ambulance. Instead of pulling off to the side of the road, I see people trying to jockey for positions during these moments on the roadway. Tow truck drivers have it bad also.

Idaho's "Move Over Law" is just more of the same information people should have absorbed when learning to drive. Any lights, whether it be a highway patrol officer assisting a motorist or a tow truck driver securing an inoperable vehicle, should be given a wide birth on the roadway. Idaho police continue to heavily enforce this law.

For more information on Idaho laws regarding these types of situations, click here.

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