SLOMO Law is Coming !

Recently two police officers received very serious injury when their legs were crushed while setting up a breath test station.  A driver who admits that his eyes were off the road for about twenty seconds while sending a text message crashed into the back of their parked patrol car and caught them between the two vehicles.   One officer has had his foot amputated.

This incident has caused the New South Wales government to draft what is termed a " SLOMO " law that will apply to traffic anytime they encounter an emergency vehicle with its warning lights flashing, parked at the side of the road.  They will be required to reduce speed to 40 kph and move over to clear the lane beside that emergency vehicle.

Obviously, this law is intended to enhance the safety of police, paramedics and fire fighters who may need to move about near their vehicle while attending to an emergency situation.  No doubt the law will be specific abut the distance before and after the parked emergency vehicle that this requirement will be required.

The interpretation will be quite different as it applies to high speed divided highways - and single lane each way suburban streets.  On a highway with a posted limit of 110 kph it is quite reasonable to expect drivers to slow to 40 kph and move to the right hand lane to give emergency workers a safe working space, but the situation is not so clear in a suburban street.

Here the speed limit is a uniform 60 kph and moving to the right lane of opposing traffic flow could be a fresh disaster.  Perhaps the requirement for safely passing a cyclist might be more appropriate - keeping a one metre clearance with emergency vehicles and reducing speed to 40 kph.

Cynics will complain that this is a law that could be abused by police.  On a busy long weekend with high volume traffic flow on our highways a police patrol car that pulls over a driver to book them for an offence would cause danger as fast moving traffic starts to change lanes to obey that law and reduce speed at the same time.  This law is specific.  Any emergency vehicle with flashing lights requires to be obeyed, even when that police car and its victim are safely in the breakdown lane.  If the officer chooses to use his or her radar to check obedience a lot of drivers just above that 40 kph requirement would receive a ticket in the mail.

Sadly, the incident that provoked this SLOMO law would not have prevented the accident had this law been in place.  The driver did not see the police car with its lights flashing because his attention was diverted to texting and his gaze was not on the road ahead.

There is a danger that this law might be misused in similar fashion to the " Roadwork ahead " signage with a speed reduction that is often left unattended for weeks - and sometimes months.   Often the delay is caused by the weather, but often heavy equipment is left with its warning lights flashing and these may be mistaken for emergency vehicles.

We need to be very careful in drafting this law that we do not create added dangers beyond the ones we wish to avoid !