Ohio's Move Over Law Now Protects Trash and Recycling Crews

Published November 13, 2018 · New Laws

Few people work closer to moving traffic than the crews who pick up our trash and recycling. They spend the day stepping off the back of a truck into the street, walking between the truck and the curb, and crossing lanes to reach containers, often before sunrise and often on busy roads. When a passing driver is impatient or not paying attention, the results can be devastating.

As of October 29, 2018, Ohio law gives those workers the same protection that police officers, firefighters, tow-truck operators and highway crews already had. Senate Bill 127 of the 132nd General Assembly added waste collection vehicles to Ohio's "Move Over" law, R.C. 4511.213.

What the Move Over law requires

Under R.C. 4511.213(A), a driver approaching any of the following vehicles, while it is stationary and displaying flashing, oscillating or rotating lights, must take specific steps:

• public safety vehicles (such as police cruisers);
• emergency vehicles (such as fire trucks and ambulances);
• road service vehicles (such as tow trucks);
• waste collection vehicles (new as of October 29);
• vehicles the Public Utilities Commission uses to conduct motor-vehicle inspections; and
• highway maintenance vehicles.

What the driver must do depends on the road:

1. On a highway with at least two lanes going your direction, you must proceed with due caution and, if possible and safe given road, weather and traffic conditions, change lanes into a lane that is not next to the stopped vehicle.
2. On a road without a second lane in your direction, or when changing lanes is impossible or unsafe, you must proceed with due caution, slow down, and keep a safe speed for the conditions.

In plain terms: move over if you can, and slow down if you cannot.

Penalties

A violation is a minor misdemeanor, rising to a fourth- or third-degree misdemeanor for drivers with recent prior traffic convictions. The court must also impose a fine of twice the usual amount for the violation. The statute expressly makes the offense a strict-liability offense, meaning the state does not have to prove the driver intended to break the law.

The same day S.B. 127 took effect, Ohio's new distracted-driving law did too. A Move Over violation is one of the offenses that can carry an additional fine of up to $100 if the driver was distracted and the distraction contributed to the violation. I explained that law in a post on its effective date.

How the law has grown

Ohio's Move Over law began with police and emergency vehicles and has been widened over time. In 2013, the General Assembly extended it to tow trucks and other road service vehicles and to highway maintenance crews, which I wrote about at the time. S.B. 127 continues that trend by recognizing that sanitation crews face the same danger every working day.

Why this matters if a worker is hit

When a sanitation worker is struck by a passing car, two different legal tracks usually open up.

Workers' compensation. Because the worker was injured on the job, he or she is generally entitled to workers' compensation benefits for medical care and lost wages, regardless of fault. But workers' comp does not pay for pain and suffering, and its wage benefits replace only part of what an injured worker loses.

A third-party claim against the driver. The driver who hit the worker is not the employer, so workers' compensation immunity does not protect that driver. The injured worker can bring a negligence claim against the driver and the driver's insurer for the full range of damages, including pain and suffering and the full measure of lost earning capacity. I explained this two-track recovery in a 2016 post.

The amended Move Over law strengthens that third-party claim. When a driver fails to move over or slow down for a stopped trash truck with its lights flashing, the driver has violated a specific safety statute written to protect exactly this kind of worker. In Ohio, the violation of a specific safety statute like this one can establish negligence as a matter of law (negligence per se). The driver's insurer will still argue about whether the lights were on, whether the truck was stopped, or whether the worker stepped out unexpectedly. But the statute sets a clear standard of conduct, and the driver's failure to meet it is powerful evidence.

The statute also cuts the other way in one respect: R.C. 4511.213(B) says it does not relieve the driver of the stopped vehicle of the duty to drive with due regard for everyone's safety. Where a truck was parked or operated carelessly, that may matter to how fault is divided, but it does not excuse a passing driver who ignored the flashing lights.

Settling the right way

Injured workers must be careful about how a third-party claim is resolved. The Bureau of Workers' Compensation (or a self-insured employer) has a statutory right to be repaid from a third-party recovery and must be given notice and a chance to protect that interest before any settlement. Earlier this year, the Ohio Supreme Court made clear how costly a misstep can be, as I discussed in a post on settling a work-related crash claim. Coordinating the workers' comp claim and the injury claim from the start protects the worker's net recovery.

Not just sanitation workers

The same principles apply to every worker the Move Over law protects: police officers on a traffic stop, firefighters and paramedics at a crash scene, tow-truck drivers on the shoulder of I-75, and road crews. Drivers who hit them can be held fully responsible, and so can their employers when the driver was working. Our car and truck accident page covers claims against commercial drivers.

What this means for you

If you or a family member works on or beside the road, Ohio law now requires drivers to move over or slow down for you whenever your vehicle is stopped with its lights flashing, and that includes trash and recycling trucks. If a driver ignores that duty and hurts you, you may have both a workers' compensation claim and a separate injury claim against the driver. The two need to be handled together.