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“Let’s give our crash responders the space they need to perform their work safely so we can all get home safely to our families each day.”
Chris Engelbrecht
MoDOT Safety & Emergency
Management Director
Gov. Mike Parson has proclaimed Nov. 13-17 as Crash Responder Safety Week to raise awareness about the importance of moving over for Missouri’s emergency responders, including police officers, firefighters, EMS, tow truck operators and highway workers.
Crash Responder Safety Week is a national campaign sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration to educate drivers on crash prevention and Missouri’s Move Over Law to help keep themselves and traffic incident responders safe.
Missouri’s Move Over Law requires drivers to either change lanes or slow down when approaching stationary MoDOT, law enforcement or other emergency vehicles with flashing lights on.
A crash responder's job is to assist drivers during traffic incidents and help keep traffic flowing, but according to the Federal Highway Administration, traffic incidents are the leading cause of death for emergency responders and law enforcement officers.
Last year, more than 54,000 traffic crashes were reported on Missouri roadways that required emergency response. MoDOT emergency response personnel respond to more than 4,500 traffic incidents each month on average.
This year's campaign theme is "Protect Those Who Protect You." To help protect emergency responders, all 50 states enforce some form of the Move Over law. Learn more about this campaign here.
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