The Stationary Lights Ahead
ORC 4511.213 — move over where you can, slow down where you cannot
This is the section behind the signs on the interstate, and the part most people have wrong is its reach. It is not only about police cars. It is about anything stopped on the side of the road with its lights going, which on an ordinary drive is most often a tow truck or a bin lorry.
Who handles this in Ohio: Ohio State Bar Association lawyer referral; and legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.
- A stationary public safety vehicle
- A stationary emergency vehicle
- A stationary road service vehicle
- A stationary waste collection vehicle
- A stationary vehicle used by the public utilities commission to conduct motor vehicle inspections
- A stationary highway maintenance vehicle
The duty attaches where that vehicle is displaying appropriate visual signals by means of flashing, oscillating or rotating lights. A vehicle stopped on the shoulder with nothing lit is not what this section is about.
There are two ways to comply and the road decides which. On a highway with at least two lanes running in the same direction, the driver proceeds with due caution and, if possible and with due regard to road, weather and traffic conditions, changes lanes into a lane not adjacent to the stationary vehicle. Where the road is not one of those, or where changing lanes is not possible or would be unsafe, the driver proceeds with due caution, reduces the speed of the motor vehicle, and maintains a safe speed for the road, weather and traffic conditions.
Slowing down is not a fallback everywhere. Where there is a lane to move into and moving is possible and safe, moving is the duty. Reducing speed is what the section requires of the driver who cannot move, not an alternative offered to the driver who can.
Where a person is found to have operated a motor vehicle in violation of the provision, the court imposes a fine of two times the usual amount imposed for the violation. A doubled fine is the mechanism the section uses rather than a fixed figure of its own.
The related sections on approaching a moving emergency vehicle, on following too closely, and on the assured clear distance ahead are separate duties that can apply to the same few seconds of driving. What a particular citation carries in a particular court, and whether a defense applies, are questions for a licensed Ohio attorney.
Sources for this section (1)
- ORC 4511.213 — Approaching a stationary public safety vehicle displaying an emergency light
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.