Driving, by nature, is a task that continually requires you to divide your attention. In addition to the mechanics of driving your vehicle, the landscape and events surrounding you change constantly.
While there is much you need to pay attention to while driving a car, emergency vehicles are often a critical obstacle demanding a response. To help drivers respond better to roadside emergency vehicles, legislators are working on a new bill to give drivers more notice of oncoming hazards.
Here’s what you should know about the proposed legislation and how it could impact your drive if the bill passes.
Protecting first responders
Regardless of where the distractions come from, the biggest issue for distracted drivers are events that are out of the ordinary. Police, fire, ambulance and other first response vehicles often come up suddenly for the driver who naturally maintains a divided focus.
This bill reminds drivers to move over when they see first responders on the side of the road. Specifically, the bill would provide funding to add “move over alerts” in navigation apps. When drivers give first responders an extra lane of space, they have more room to assist the people they were called to help in a safer manner for everyone involved.
Looking out for Florida and the nation
While the legislators working on this bill are from Illinois, this subject is quite familiar to Floridians. Last year, there were over 40,000 distracted driving crashes in the Sunshine State alone.
Many first responders are killed or injured every year because drivers are not looking at the road ahead, and they miss critical maneuvers in changing their course. Hopefully, a reminder inside the vehicle will help drivers become more aware of events taking place outside the vehicle.
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