Connecticut launches new push to move over for highway crews after deadly summer
The “Real Lives” campaign features first responders and highway workers. It comes after two deadly crashes involving crews working on the side of the road.
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Connecticut is launching a big push to get drivers to move over when they see flashing lights on the side of the road. A new ad campaign began running this week on television, streaming services and gas station pumps.
The “Real Lives” campaign comes after a state trooper and DOT maintenance worker picking up litter were killed over the summer.
“REAL LIVES”
Two new ads feature the “real lives” of firefighters, police and highway workers who risk their safety working along Connecticut’s highways.
“You’re standing on the side of I-95, and there’s nothing between you and 85 mph cars and trucks than some safety cones, a vest and a hard hat,” said Don Shubert, president of the Connecticut Construction Industries Association.
The Connecticut Department of Transportation launched the campaign this week to remind drivers about the state’s “Slow Down, Move Over” law. First passed 15 years ago, it requires motorists to change lanes if anyone – not just emergency workers and highway crews – is pulled off to the side of the road. If you can’t pull over, you must slow down. The law now applies to one lane roads, too.
Failure to move over is only a traffic infraction, but if someone is injured, the penalty is up to $2,500. And if someone is killed, the fine goes to $10,000.
DEADLY SUMMER
The push comes after an impaired driver killed a DOT maintenance worker in June. One month earlier, another driver fatally struck Trooper Aaron Pelletier during a traffic stop on I-84 in Southington.
“These men and women have lives outside of work,” said DOT Deputy Commissioner Laoise King. “And we have a responsibility to ensure that they return home at the end of their shifts.”
Connecticut roads are some of the deadliest in the nation. To turn the tide, DOT is installing 140 wrong-way detection systems.
But highway workers said the solution is simple. “We all have a life outside of work,” a tow truck driver says in the new ad. “And we don't want to lose it.”
