Semi crash injures AAST member in construction zone

Trooper Milton Brown

AAST member Tpr. Milton Brown, 44, of the Florida Highway Patrol was injured in a crash the morning of March 20 on Interstate 10 in Chipley, Fla., when a semi-tractor-trailer rear-ended his patrol car as he worked with construction crews along the interstate.

Brown was airlifted to Southeast Alabama Medical Center, where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, including a badly broken arm and cracked vertebrae.

The 2004 Volvo semi was traveling east on I-10 in the outside through lane, the same lane where Brown was also traveling with his emergency lights activated in a marked construction zone. The truck driver apparently did not see Brown's car in time and tried to take evasive action at the last moment, but struck the left rear of Brown's patrol car, ripping off most of the driver’s side of the vehicle. The impact drove the patrol car into another vehicle, and the semi ended up in a shallow pond off the highway. The truck driver suffered minor injuries.

Brown was initially listed in serious but stable condition, and after undergoing surgery to place rods in his arm, he was released three days later to recover at home.

Brown was named Co-Trooper of the Year in 2005 for his actions during the 2004 shooting of Bonifay, Fla., police officer Stephen Lee.

Crash puts focus on Move Over Law

Tpr. Milton Brown was airlifted from the scene of his totaled FHP cruiser.

The FHP plans to use Brown’s wrecked patrol car to promote the state’s Move Over Law, which is being disregarded throughout the state.

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles hosted a Move Over Law Workshop the first week of March to focus on new strategies and methods to educate the motoring public about the Move Over Law and to plan enforcement initiatives to ensure compliance. Although Florida's Move Over Law is almost six years old, compliance is not where authorities would like. During the five-year period of 1996 to 2000, motorists in Florida crashed into working law enforcement vehicles that were either stopped or parked along Florida roadways 1,793 times, resulting in five deaths and 419 injuries.

The Move Over Law, which passed during the 2002 session, requires all motorists approaching an emergency vehicle with lights flashing to change lanes away from the emergency vehicle if traveling on a multi-lane roadway and if able to do so safely. If the driver is unable to move over or is traveling on a single-lane roadway, the driver is required to slow to a speed that is 20 miles per hour less than the posted speed limit when the posted speed limit is 25 miles per hour or greater; or travel at five miles per hour when the posted speed limit is 20 miles per hour or less.

Additional information regarding Move Over Laws in each state can be found at www.moveoveramerica.com.

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