Procedure for Passing Certain Stationary Vehicles

1. Law
2. Georgia Code
3. Motor Vehicles and Traffic
4. Uniform Rules of the Road
5. General Provisions
6. Procedure for Passing Certain Stationary Vehicles

1. This Code section shall be known and may be cited as the "Spencer Pass Law."
2. The operator of a motor vehicle approaching a stationary authorized emergency vehicle that is displaying flashing yellow, amber, white, red, or blue lights shall approach the authorized emergency vehicle with due caution and shall, absent any other direction by a peace officer, proceed as follows:
   1. Make a lane change into a lane not adjacent to the authorized emergency vehicle if possible in the existing safety and traffic conditions; or
   2. If a lane change under paragraph (1) of this subsection would be impossible, prohibited by law, or unsafe, reduce the speed of the motor vehicle to a reasonable and proper speed for the existing road and traffic conditions, which speed shall be less than the posted speed limit, and be prepared to stop.
3. The operator of a motor vehicle approaching a stationary towing or recovery vehicle, a stationary highway maintenance vehicle, or a stationary utility service vehicle that is utilizing traffic cones or displaying flashing yellow, amber, white, or red lights shall approach the vehicle with due caution and shall, absent any other direction by a peace officer, proceed as follows:
   1. Make a lane change into a lane not adjacent to the towing, recovery, highway maintenance, or utility service vehicle if possible in the existing safety and traffic conditions; or
   2. If a lane change under paragraph (1) of this subsection would be impossible, prohibited by law, or unsafe, reduce the speed of the motor vehicle to a reasonable and proper speed for the existing road and traffic conditions, which speed shall be less than the posted speed limit, and be prepared to stop.
4. 1. Violation of subsection (b) of this Code section shall be punished by a fine of not more than $500.00.
   2. Violation of subsection (c) of this Code section shall be punished by a fine of not more than $250.00.
5. As used in this Code section, the term:
   1. "Utility service vehicle" means any vehicle being used by an employee or contractor of any entity, including, but not limited to, a political subdivision of this state or a local authority or commission related thereto, an electric cooperative, or a public or private corporation, in connection with the provision of utility services.
   2. "Utility services" means and includes electric, natural gas, water, waste-water, cable, telephone, or telecommunication services or the repair, location, relocation, improvement, or maintenance of utility poles, transmission structures, pipes, wires, fibers, cables, easements, rights of way, and associated infrastructure.

(Code 1981, §40-6-16, enacted by Ga. L. 2003, p. 427, § 1; Ga. L. 2006, p. 231, § 2/SB 64; Ga. L. 2011, p. 593, § 1/HB 156; Ga. L. 2016, p. 61, § 1/HB 767.)

The 2016 amendment, effective July 1, 2016, substituted the present provisions of the introductory paragraph of subsection (c) for the former provisions, which read: "The operator of a motor vehicle approaching a stationary towing or recovery vehicle or a stationary highway maintenance vehicle that is displaying flashing yellow, amber, or red lights shall approach the vehicle with due caution and shall, absent any other direction by a peace officer, proceed as follows:"; substituted "recovery, highway maintenance, or utility service vehicle" for "recovery, or highway maintenance vehicle" in paragraph (c)(1); designated the existing provisions of subsection (d) as paragraph (d)(1); deleted "or (c)" following "subsection (b)" in paragraph (d)(1); added paragraph (d)(2); and added subsection (e).

Cross references.

- Payment of indemnification or disability of emergency personnel or prison guards, § 45-9-85.

Law reviews.

- For note on the 2003 enactment of this Code section, see 20 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 213 (2003).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Violation of statute warranted investigative stop.

- Because the defendant's apparent violation of O.C.G.A. § 40-6-16(a) (now subsection (b)) gave the investigating officer a reasonable and articulable suspicion to stop the defendant and inquire further, the trial court erred in granting the defendant's motion to suppress a refusal to take a breath test in connection with DUI charges; moreover, the trial court erroneously concluded that the defendant could have had an innocent explanation for a last-minute swerve to avoid hitting the officer's patrol car as the issue went to the question of guilt or innocence and was not the dispositive question on a motion to suppress. State v. Rheinlander, 286 Ga. App. 625, 649 S.E.2d 828 (2007).

Evidence sufficient for conviction.

- Defendant's motion for directed verdict of acquittal on a violation of Georgia's "move-over" statute, O.C.G.A. § 40-6-16(a) (now subsection (b)), was properly denied because a reasonable jury could find that, although a patrol car was moving at the time the defendant nearly struck the car, the car had been stationary with lights flashing, and the defendant had failed to slow down or move over. Van Auken v. State, 304 Ga. App. 802, 697 S.E.2d 895 (2010).

Evidence that the defendant passed the officer in a lane adjacent to the officer while the officer conducted a traffic stop and had the officer's blue emergency lights activated, and that the defendant had room to move out of the adjacent lane and safely into a farther lane was sufficient to support the defendant's conviction for violation of the Spencer Pass Law, O.C.G.A. § 40-6-16. Pierce v. State, 322 Ga. App. 145, 743 S.E.2d 438 (2013).

Cited in Stevenson v. City of Doraville, 294 Ga. 220, 751 S.E.2d 845 (2013).

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