Law enforcement officials in Onondaga County will be targeting motorists next week who don’t observe the state’s Move Over Law. Today, County Police Chief Joseph Ciciarelli says they’re launching a zero tolerance enforcement of the law from April 17th through the 21st. James Waverkak of Meyer’s Towing works on the thruway and faces the dangers of the highway every day. He thinks only about 60% of drivers obey the Move Over Law.
“I keep one eye on traffic, keep one eye on what I’m doing," Waverkak said. "You got no choice to because you got drivers that are distracting, you got drivers using their cell phones, you got drivers that have been driving all day long – they’re fatigued, they’re tired – I got children to go home to, so I’m definitely going to be looking both ways at all times.”
Waverkak does think the Move Over Law helps keep him safe, especially when county and state police crack down on it. Although the law has protected some emergency responders, many still have close calls and dangerous accidents while stopped on roadways. Camillus Police Captain Steve Rotunno recalls an incident from a few years ago.
“During the winter time, someone failed to move over – it was a car accident up on route 695 – when the car did move over, it spun out of control, slammed into one of our police cars, and it took one of our police officers to be hanging off the side of the bridge to avoid from being hurt. If you just slow down and move over, incidents like that won’t happen.”
County Sheriff Police Captain Michael Dickinson says the goal of the enforcement initiative isn’t to ticket drivers, it’s to raise awareness and obedience of the Move Over Law and protect emergency responders.
“The idea behind it is general deterrence. Enough people are written tickets. They tell other people they got a ticket, and that’s much more realistic to somebody," Dickinson said. "It hits them monetarily, and it may cost points on a license, and they’ll remember that more than they’ll remember a slogan or an advertisement or anything else. We found that people are surprised when somebody’s hit or killed, but they think that’s highly unlikely as opposed to the idea of taking a fine for it.”
Drivers can expect to see electronic billboards on roadways reminding them to ‘move over and slow down’ starting next Monday. 
