One has to be careful criticizing laws that are meant to protect law enforcement personnel.
But Florida’s Move Over Act, to paraphrase Creighton, is one of the worst ideas in the long sad history of bad ideas.
I don’t mean the intent is bad, of course. I mean the law will never achieve the intent, and therefore the law is bad. Motorists cannot be blamed for violating the law if the hazard appears too quickly for them to react.
Rather than attempting to legislate what should be common sense, the public and the law enforcement community would be better served by creating better visibility of local emergency events, such as a vehicle blocking a lane of traffic.
One way to do this might be to erect a bright flashing red and blue light on a portable, retractable tower, perhaps something akin to the towers used by remote television broadcast vans, or perhaps on a standalone tripod support.
Another way might be to raise such a light with a quickly-inflatable balloon, tethered to the law enforcement vehicle.
It might even be conceivable to combine the two ideas, to provide maximum visibility.
The point is to give motorists more than a few seconds’ notice that they are approaching a temporary hazard.
That will do far more to protect the public and law enforcement than an impractical, unpublicized, and nearly-unenforceable law. “Move Over” should be relegated to the scrapheap of history, as soon as possible.