Governor Larry Hogan, along with Maryland House Speaker Adrienne Jones and Senate President Bill Ferguson, signed 140 bills into law Monday. Included in the bills were transportation changes for state roadways.
One of which, SB 147, expands Maryland’s existing “Move Over” law beyond public safety and service vehicles to include all vehicles stopped on the highway with warning lights, flashers, or other caution signals. Violators of the expanded “Move Over” law are subject to a fine up to $500.
“We don’t want you to move over if it’s not safe to do so. But, what you can do is reduce your speed,” Ragina Ali of AAA Mid-Atlantic said. “This, we hope, will not only provide extra protections to motorists who may be stopped on the side of the road, but also our first responders and tow truck drivers providing aid to them.”
The law will go into effect Oct. 1, adding Maryland as the eighth state to offer these additional roadside protections.
Several other transportation bills were signed into law by the Governor.
HB 53 authorizes the use of a monitoring system to record images of cars traveling in dedicated bus lanes, and SB 61 further transitions the MTA bus fleet to zero-emissions with training and apprenticeships for its workforce.
Another bill, SB 146, establishes signage and $100 fines for those violating electric vehicle charging spaces.
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Source: CBS Baltimore
