Florida’s move law doesn’t prevent fatal crashes, but can upgraded car technology help?

TAMPA, Florida. Drivers who refuse to slow down and move when the vehicle is on the side of the road have become a common occurrence in Florida.

Law enforcement images show the shocking aftermath of drivers defying a state law passed more than 20 years ago.

A 2022 video released by the Florida Highway Patrol shows a Lexus SUV passing half a dozen traffic cones. It narrowly missed a mother and her young children standing next to their disabled vehicle before the Lexus ended up colliding with a tow truck parked on the side of the highway.

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Florida Highway Patrol

Nationwide, state mover violators are a problem that kills about 350 people nationwide every year, according to the AAA, with Florida among the top three deadliest states, according to the automotive group.

“Right now, there is no protection or law that requires drivers to move for you,” explained Mark Jenkins, a spokesman for the AAA Auto Club.

As a result, the group is pushing state lawmakers to expand Florida’s move law to include not only police, first responders, construction workers, and tow truck operators, but all disabled vehicles parked on the side of the road.

“Unfortunately, so many people die on the roadsides every year. So anything we can do to raise awareness of this issue is extremely valuable and could save lives,” Jenkins said.

But entrepreneur David Tucker believes expanding the law is just one step toward reducing the number of injuries and deaths from crossing accidents.

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Yu Scripps, 2023

“Something needs to be done because every day there are casualties like clockwork,” he recently told investigative reporter Cathy Lagrone.

For the past two years, Tucker and his team have tracked published traffic accident reports across the country, focusing on fatalities involving cars or commercial vehicles.

“Just from what’s published, we’re seeing 55 to 60 per month,” Tucker said. “So it’s twenty times the problem,” Tucker said, compared to deaths associated with emergency services and tow truck operators, already covered by state law.

Tucker, who has dedicated his career to solving safety problems in the oil and gas industry, became interested in road safety after an intimate conversation.

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At the time, Tucker was retired and touring the country in his motorhome when every time he stopped to check on his cargo, he faced the same egregious threat.

“It took a couple of times to stop in this big motor home and turn on the emergency lights to realize that people didn’t see me. They didn’t do it on purpose, they just didn’t notice me in time,” he said.

And then one day he had a flat tire.

“An 18-wheeler passed by and it tore off the side-view mirror. He was inches from killing me, and I ducked to the side. I thought it was bad,” he recalled.

Tucker said the slip forced him out of retirement and into what became a personal mission.

“What happens if one of my kids gets into this accident and I thought, well, I could do something,” Tucker said.

Thus, a startup with many years of experience founded Emergency Safety Solutions (ESS), aimed at preventing traffic accidents using existing technologies; his company is only modernizing.

| Emergency Safety Solutions: Enhanced Hazard Location Protocol (HELP) 3D animation

Take standard passenger car emergency lights. Typical emergency lights on passenger cars flash at a rate of 1-2 hertz per second. Tucker said those standards have not been updated since 1951.

So his company ESS developed hazards that flash about 3 hertz per second faster, giving the lights in front and behind the car a more emergency look when they flash.

A Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study commissioned by ESS found that drivers moved or slowed down 80% of the time fast flashes were mobilized, compared to 30% for normal hazards.

“When we use this on the side of the road, people come up to us all the time and ask how I can get this,” he said.

In addition, ESS has created an in-vehicle digital warning system that warns drivers of a malfunctioning vehicle from up to four football fields away. When hazards are triggered manually or automatically, alerts are also sent to your phone through regular navigation apps.

“I couldn’t believe that the solution we’re promoting wasn’t cutting edge yet. I thought there was a reason for that, because it’s so simple. It’s a proven technology; we just combine proven technologies to give you the best warning system,” Tucker said.

The team is working to get automakers to voluntarily include the technology in new vehicles. Tucker said Tesla has already made a commitment.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently ruled that ESS technology is legal, a significant win for the company. However, Tucker hopes it will eventually help lead to new federal safety standards for emergency lights and advanced warning systems.

“It took about 30 years for seat belt laws to really come into being,” explained emergency room physician Dr. Ricardo Martinez. Martinez is an unpaid safety advisor at ESS but also served as an administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the 1990s.

“I think the technological problems here are not very big. It’s just a matter of having the will to move forward,” he said.

Some say this, along with Florida’s expanded move law, should apply to everyone.

“Once you see a problem, it’s very hard to act like it doesn’t exist,” Tucker said.

Before the new standards are adopted, the agency must first demonstrate a need for safety and prove that the new requirement will help solve the problem, an NHTSA spokesman said. Tucker and his team are working on those details.

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