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Santa Cruz Sentinel: ‘Slow down’ law among handful signed by governor


Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Kurtis Alexander, Santa Cruz Sentinel

State Sen. Joe Simitian says he remembers exactly where he was when he learned that a 24-year California Highway Patrol officer was struck by a vehicle and killed along Highway 17 on New Year’s Eve 2005.

The Democratic lawmaker was home in Palo Alto, he says, where he immediately recalled the bill he had unsuccessfully pushed for earlier that year: one that would have required drivers to move over or slow down when approaching an emergency scene.

“I picked up the paper and saw that there was a story on an accident that this law was designed to prevent,” Simitian said.

The following year, Simitian reintroduced the so-called “move over or slow down” law and it was successfully put on the books—for three years. This month, the senator’s effort to make that requirement permanent, with SB159, was signed into law.

Full story on the Santa Cruz Sentinel website