Lawmakers revise bill to limit roadside emergency dangers

State lawmakers cleaned up and advanced a bill Monday that would require motorists to move over and slow down when approaching and passing stopped emergency vehicles.

"We feel such a law is to help protect us," Rusty Lawson, a DUI Task Force officer with the Maui Police Department, said during his testimony in favor of the bill. Lawson said he gets "whizzed by a lot" by cars when he’s stopped on the side of the road.

"We just hope some law like this would be passed to protect … statewide officers that combat DUIs and such things on the roads," he said.

SB 61 was carried over from the 2011 session but has come up again after police officer Garret Davis was killed Jan. 21 when a truck slammed into his marked patrol car while he was pulled over to help a motorist on the H-1 freeway.

J. Kalani English (D, East Maui-Lanai-Molokai), chairman of the Senate Transportation and International Affairs Committee, cited concerns he had with the bill, such as its vagueness and the fact that in cases when a death occurs, the offender could be charged with the same crime twice under two statutes, or not be charged under the proper statute.

"The way the original bill was drafted, it said that you will be charged under this statute," English said following the hearing. "The way that I’m redrafting it says that manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, etc., those sections will apply first, and if nobody dies … then this (SB 61) comes in."

English said there has been a misconception that Hawaii doesn’t protect the safety of emergency responders on the side of the road.

"That’s what the man-slaughter laws are, that’s what those other laws are," he said. "So there is existing law there."

He acknowledged there is no law requiring motorists to move over or slow down, but noted, "It’s a bit difficult because you can’t mandate common sense."

For that reason, English removed provisions in the bill that required motorists to slow down to certain speeds and will instead insert language that invokes the "reasonable person" test and asks drivers to "slow to a reasonable and prudent speed that is safe for existing weather, road, vehicular or pedestrian traffic concerns."

He also reduced the offense of failing to slow down and move over while passing stopped emergency vehicles to a petty misdemeanor rather than a misdemeanor.

The bill will be heard next by the Senate Judiciary Committee.