The Ohio law requires all drivers to move over to an adjacent lane when approaching any emergency vehicle with flashing or rotating lights parked on the roadside. If moving over isn’t possible due to traffic or weather conditions, or because a second lane doesn’t exist, motorists should slow down and proceed with caution.
The Move Over Law also requires drivers to move over for public service vehicles, such as tow trucks and ODOT workers.
How it happened 25 years ago
While investigating an accident scene on the highway, the three men were struck by a car whose driver lost control while speeding on the slick roadway.
A southbound Mercury Capri driven by Stewart D. Havens, 35, of Fairborn slid off I-675 around 630 a.m. and came to rest in the median.
Police and fire crews were responding to that accident when a Chevrolet Camaro, driven by Bernadette Barton, 25, of Beavercreek, also slid into the median and hit the Capri. The three men were struck during that crash.
Havens said he was in the far right lane southbound on I-675 when a “light-colored car” tried to cut in front of his car. Havens braked suddenly and skidded over two lanes, rolling onto the highway’s median strip.
While lying inside an EMS truck, he heard a crash. “I heard one of the paramedics yell. ‘Oh my God, they’ve been hit,” he said.
Minutes after that crash, a southbound Chevrolet Blazer hit a fire truck, but stayed on the road. The driver, Gene P. Johnson Jr.. 25, of Fairborn, was in critical condition from that incident.
The accidents left police officers and firefighters reeling. Kalaman was the first police officer Centerville had lost in the line of duty. Washington Twp. had not lost a firefighter since 1955.
For close to nine hours, all six lanes of I-675 were diverted to the Wilmington Pike exits and back onto the on-ramps, causing miles of backups.