A 37-year-old Woodstock man was killed in an accident this week involving a tow truck. According to a report from 11 Alive, police responded to a Tuesday afternoon crash in the northbound lanes of I-575 near Holly Street Bridge, just before Holly Springs Parkway. They found that a car had slid under a tow truck that was picking up another vehicle in the emergency lane. No one else was injured in the crash, the Holly Springs Police Department noted. The northbound lanes of I-575 remained closed for a couple of hours.
Georgia’s Move Over Law was designed to protect emergency workers, such as first responders, police, utility workers, and tow truck drivers from being injured or killed by passing traffic while providing assistance after an accident or when removing a disabled vehicle from the roadway. The Move Over Law requires drivers traveling in the lane adjacent to the shoulder to move over one lane when there are emergency vehicles operating in their official capacity on the roadway. If it is not possible to move over one lane, the drivers of oncoming vehicles are required to drop to a speed below the posted speed limit in order to safely navigate their vehicle past the scene of the emergency.
According to the National Safety Council, around 180 people are killed each year in accidents involving emergency vehicles. More than half of these fatalities occur to occupants of other vehicles. Pedestrians — including emergency workers and individuals who are standing on the side of the road after a previous accident or when their vehicles become disabled on the roadways — account for another 25 percent of all traffic fatalities involving emergency vehicles.
If you’ve been injured or have lost a loved one due to a traffic accident in the Atlanta metropolitan area, an experienced car accident attorney from Cambre & Associates LLC can evaluate your case for free and help you understand your legal options for obtaining compensation for the expenses and impacts of your injury or loss. Contact us for more information.