Impact Check: Is the Florida Relocation Law Having the Expected Impact?

Brooke Lawrence never thought she would take such a walk, at least not now, and certainly not for the sake of her son, whom she would visit in a cemetery in Florida.

“I don’t like coming here. I don’t want to visit my son here,” Lawrence told us during a recent visit.

Brooke’s son, Austin, was only 24 years old when he died nearly two years ago.

At the time, Austin, a tow truck operator, was just doing his job on the side of a busy Orlando Boulevard when he was hit by a driver who couldn’t move.

“I broke everything. Broken arms, broken legs, broken stomach, head injury, brain hemorrhage,” Lawrence describes the extent of his son’s injuries.

25 days after he was shot down, the father of two died in hospital. His wounds were too severe for his young body.

“His little boy looked out the window every day, waiting for him to come home, he just didn’t come home. This is wrong, this is wrong,” Lawrence said through tears.

First passed in Florida in 2002, traffic law requires drivers to cross lanes or, if they cannot safely change lanes, slow down 20 miles below the speed limit when law enforcement, emergency responders, or tow truck drivers stop at the side of the road. road.

In 2014, the law expanded to also protect construction, sanitation and utility crews.

But more than two decades after it first went into effect in the state, does Florida’s move law make life on the roadside safer?

“He was on site for less than 15 minutes when it happened,” Lawrence said during a recent press conference at the Florida Highway Patrol office in Orlando to draw attention to the law.

“What happened that day was completely preventable, it should never have happened,” Lawrence told reporters, detailing how her son’s tow truck was one of 6 cars parked on the side of the road that day. and hit her son.

During the same press conference, Marissa Cruz also spoke to the public about her recent tragedy.

“Paul was not only a wonderful husband and father, he was our hero in our family,” Cruz said through tears.

Less than three months ago, Cruz’s husband, also a tow truck driver, was also killed by a rider.

“The pain that our family has experienced is heartbreaking,” Cruz said.

Both Austin and Paul were working for the Johnson Evacuation Service when they were killed by drivers who violated state move law. It is incomprehensible to the owners of the company that in two years two of its operators were killed by people who did not move.

“Slow down, move over, give us some space,” said Dennis Johnson, one of the company’s owners. “It’s unbearable to relive these situations,” Johnson explained, clearly frustrated by the preaching of a law that too many are still breaking.

When asked if the law had the impact he was hoping for, Johnson replied: “I hope it has a major impact that starts tomorrow or today, but it hasn’t yet,” he said.

Law enforcement videos and images across the state show the shocking consequences of drivers who don’t move.

Data collected by the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) also shows their frequency. Since 2015, traffic offenders have fallen behind an average of one accident almost every two days in our state, according to the state.

In fact, a year after the expansion of the law, FHP statistics show that the number of accidents, injuries and deaths of drivers who failed to move remains relatively unchanged year on year.

According to a recent AAA study, Florida also ranks among the top states in terms of the number of people hit and killed each year while standing near a disabled vehicle. In this legislative session, his auto club plans to push Florida lawmakers to strengthen the move law by making drivers also drive or slow down disabled vehicles.

“This is a good law, unfortunately we still have people who break the law, so we still see accidents and people receiving fines,” the sergeant explained. Steve Gaskins of Tampa Bay County FHP. He said that despite the fact that the law came into force more than twenty years ago, many drivers still do not know that the law on moving exists at all.

“Drivers who were already driving before it became law and before it was in driver training courses, that’s where the problem starts,” he said.

This lack of awareness was also noted as an ongoing problem in the 2020 U.S. Government Accountability Office report. In the report, which examined federal data on the safety of emergency services, the researchers examined several state relocation laws, including Florida law.

“Public awareness is a big issue because all 50 states have slow traffic laws, but those laws can vary,” said Elizabeth Repko, one of the authors who wrote the report.

Punishments can also be different. In Florida, refusing to move is considered a move violation, which typically carries a $120 to $170 fine. While violators can also get three points on their license, such as in Illinois, they cannot move and drivers can be fined up to $10,000 and 15 points on their license.

Dennis Johnson of Johnson’s Wrecker Service believes Florida’s relocation law needs to be tightened up to make a real difference.

“There should be higher fines for me, higher fines, maybe even the possibility of having their license revoked or suspended for a certain period of time,” he said.

Austin’s mom, Brooke Lawrence, agrees.

“Worsening, not improving,” she said of the rise and fall in accidents, injuries and deaths due to movers.

“They should take a course to see what happens when they don’t follow this law. How many people have suffered when they do not follow this law,” she asked.

Her family is just one of them who fell victim when the law created to protect them failed and still seems to have a long way to go to get it done.

“My son had his whole life ahead of him. He was so excited about the simple life,” she said.

To learn more about the Florida Relocation Law, click here.