Tip #49: Assume passing drivers will not move over, and stand where they cannot hit you
New Jersey's Move Over law requires drivers to change lanes or slow down for stopped emergency and service vehicles with flashing lights, including tow trucks. Plenty of drivers do not. Wait where a car leaving its lane cannot reach you.
Tip #49 in one line
New Jersey's Move Over law requires drivers to change lanes or slow down for stopped emergency and service vehicles with flashing lights, including tow trucks. Plenty of drivers do not. Wait where a car leaving its lane cannot reach you.
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Call nowWhat the law says, and what actually happens
New Jersey's Move Over law tells drivers approaching a stopped emergency vehicle, tow truck or similar service vehicle with its lights flashing to move out of the adjacent lane when it is safe, or slow down when they cannot. It exists because people working on the shoulder are struck by passing traffic.
The law helps, but it does not protect you by itself. Distracted, tired and impaired drivers drift onto shoulders, and a car with its hazards on can look like it is moving. Plan as if the next driver will not see you.
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Call nowHow to wait
Get the car as far off the lane as you can. Turn on the hazards and, at night, the interior light so the car reads as occupied. If traffic is fast and there is no safe place to stand, stay in the car with your seat belt on. If there is a guardrail, a grassy embankment or a sidewalk, and you can get there without walking along the traffic side, wait there, well behind and to the side of the car, not between the car and the road. If you have reflective triangles and can place them without walking into danger, put them well behind the car.
Do not work on the car on the traffic side. Changing a tire with your back to a live lane is one of the most dangerous things a driver can do.
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Our drivers position the truck behind or beside your car as a buffer and work from the protected side. Stay where the driver asks you to stand. The roadside assistance page explains what we handle on the shoulder, and the roadside assistance guide covers safety in more detail.
Children and pets need extra attention on a shoulder. Keep them buckled in the car, or, if you must move them, take them out on the side away from traffic and keep them close behind the barrier. Never let anyone walk along the roadway edge to check the damage or look for help. If you need help, it comes to you; your job is to stay where traffic cannot reach.
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Keep reading, or go back to every post on the blog.
- Tip #41: On Route 1 & 9, Route 22 or I-78, get as far off the road as you can
- Tip #42: Stopped in a live lane on the Pulaski Skyway or a bridge? Call 911 first
- Tip #43: On the Turnpike or Parkway, the shoulder tow is the Authority's garage
- Tip #44: In a jughandle, tell the dispatcher which side of the highway you are on
- Tip #46: On one-way streets in Newark, Jersey City or Elizabeth, give the block, not just the street
- Tip #47: Learn to read the mileposts and exit numbers before you need them
- What to do when your car breaks down in New Jersey
- Flatbed vs wheel-lift towing: which does your car need?
- All posts
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