RICHMOND, Va. — Traffic safety advocates and Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) officials are reminding drivers to follow the state's "Move Over" law following a series of recent crashes that injured first responders and roadside workers.
The law requires drivers to change lanes or slow down for stopped vehicles displaying red, blue, or amber lights. Failure to comply can be considered reckless driving, a criminal misdemeanor.
The recent incidents include three Henrico firefighters sent to a hospital at the end of April while responding to a call, a state trooper injured in Hanover County on Friday, and a VDOT worker seriously injured while working alongside I-64 on Saturday.
Brad Hughes, a traffic safety advocate who was injured in a crash 15 years ago, said the pattern is deeply personal.
"This is coming from someone who deals with pain on a daily basis. It never goes away. You drive past the crash and all you see is the crash itself," Hughes said.
Hughes said the repeated incidents are a sign that drivers are not heeding warnings that have been in place for years.
"When you start seeing things that not only affected you in the past and that affect you now in the present, you would hope that people would get the hint by now that when you see first responders out here, we need you to slow down and move over," Hughes said.
Hughes described the toll these crashes take on those involved.
"It's traumatizing," Hughes said.
He added that the frequency of these incidents is not inevitable.
"Each one of these incidents are preventable incidents, that's exactly what they are, preventable incidents," Hughes said.
VDOT Communications Manager Nicole Bell said the consequences of distracted driving are well-documented, but the message is still not reaching enough drivers.
"People think, 'It can't happen to me. It won't happen to me. I'm a good driver.' The reality is it does happen, and it can happen to you. We see it and we see the consequences of it," Bell said.
Bell said last year's numbers in Virginia were alarming.
"Last year in 2025, 4000 work zone crashes. 4000 that resulted in nearly 2 dozen fatalities. Here in the Richmond District, we have the second highest number of work zone crashes in the Commonwealth. We had 700 last year, that is an increase from 2024," Bell said.
Bell said distraction is at the root of the problem.
"People are distracted, why? Because people aren't paying attention, why? Because people aren't focused on driving, they're doing all of these other things in addition to driving, so we want to see those numbers come down we want people to be safe, and we want people to focus on the road when they're behind the wheel," Bell said.
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