Pennsylvania Motorists Required to `Steer Clear`

Rich Ponko, a veteran paramedic, clearly recalls the night in Unity Township a few years ago when he and another paramedic dove over a guiderail to save themselves from a car barrelling toward their stopped ambulance.

"I'll never forget that call along Route 981 near Dorothy. That car didn't slow down at all, plus there was ice on the highway, too, so if he did brake, nothing happened," said Ponko, the director of special operations at Mutual Aid, a Greensburg firefighter and a sheriff's deputy.

The car slammed into the rear of the ambulance, just a second after its crew dove out of its way. They had been removing a stretcher from the rear of the ambulance to help a patient in an accident.

"Anyone who responds to highway emergencies will have a lot of stories like that. I've been a paramedic for 30 years, so I've seen just about everything," Ponko said.

Ponko and other emergency responders are hailing a law that takes effect Friday that regulates drivers' actions when approaching an emergency response area. Under the law, motorists will be required to move into the far lane when they come upon an accident, the scene of a traffic stop by police, or a tow truck picking up a disabled vehicle.

A driver who does not obey what has become known as the "steer clear law" face fines up to $250, plus the potential loss of a driver's license for 90 days if someone is injured as a result of the violation.

"It's an excellent law as far as I'm concerned. Anything that makes drivers more responsible when they approach an emergency scene has been needed for a long time," Ponko said.

"Obviously, there's a need for people to pay more attention when they are approaching an emergency scene. This law is designed to do that," said Trooper Jeanne Martin, of Troop A at Greensburg.

Martin noted that the law requires drivers to pass the area in a traffic lane that is not adjacent to the emergency response area, if possible. If this is not possible, she said drivers must pass at a careful and prudent speed, and obey any instructions or indications relating to traffic flow such as spoken directions, flares, signals, lights and police car lighting.

Three Pennsylvania state troopers have died since 1999 as a result of being struck by motorists passing accident scenes or traffic stops. Between January 2005 and March 2006, passing motorists have run into marked police cruisers "with emergency lights operating" 38 times.

"And remember these are only state police statistics and do not include municipal police incidents," Martin said.

Previously, police could cite motorists at an emergency scene with careless driving, which carries a fine of just $25, plus costs, or reckless driving that carries a fine of $200, plus costs.

"But this new law is specific to these type of emergency situations," Martin said.

About three dozen other states have similar laws already enacted.

"You know, there are accident scenes where people, stopped behind, creep up so close to the back of an ambulance that we can't even open up the back doors to put the patients in to take them to the hospital. It's really unbelievable and this stuff isn't rare. It happens all the time," Ponko said.

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