From Awareness to Action: Protecting Everyone at the Roadside

Each name etched on the Wall of the Fallen at the International Towing & Recovery Museum is a reminder that roadside safety is deeply personal. Behind every name is a family, a colleague and a life cut short while helping someone in need.

More than 2,100 people were struck and killed while stranded or working on the roadside from 2019 through 2023. New AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety research shows an encouraging but incomplete picture: most drivers support Slow Down, Move Over laws and believe drivers should slow down or move over when someone is stopped at the roadside, regardless of what state law requires. Yet many still do not fully understand when the laws apply or that slowing down may be required.

Roadside technicians, tow providers, emergency responders and stranded motorists often work or wait just feet from moving traffic, where one driver’s failure to slow down or move over can have devastating consequences.

"The encouraging news is that most drivers recognize slowing down or moving over as the right thing to do," said Dr. David Yang, President and Executive Director of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. "But awareness and good intentions are not enough. Drivers must turn that understanding into action the moment they see someone stopped at the roadside, because failing to slow down or move over can turn a routine stop into a preventable tragedy." 

Every U.S. state has some form of Slow Down, Move Over law, generally requiring drivers to move to another lane when possible and/or reduce their speed when approaching a roadside worker or disabled vehicle. Yet the survey found drivers are often less familiar with protections for tow trucks and stranded vehicles than for police vehicles.

The Research Shows Drivers Care, but Confusion Remains

• More than 90% of drivers said they personally moved over and/or slowed down the last time they encountered a disabled vehicle, tow truck or police car on the shoulder — a sign that many drivers recognize the need to protect people at the roadside.
• Only 66% believed their state law required special action when passing a stopped police car, and only 58% said the same for tow trucks, despite every state having such requirements.
• Among drivers aware of applicable laws, more than 90% knew they required moving over, but fewer than half knew about requirements to slow down.
• In states that always require drivers to slow down, even if they also move over, fewer than one in five knew that requirement exists.
• More than two-thirds believed violators were not very likely or not likely at all to be caught.

"Slow Down, Move Over laws vary by state, but the safe choice should be automatic: slow down, move over if you can, and give people at the roadside space. ," Yang said.

Despite these gaps, support is strong: after Slow Down, Move Over laws were explained, 90% of respondents supported them and only 2% opposed them. Even more encouraging, when asked what drivers should do when approaching someone stopped at the roadside — regardless of what the law requires in their state — more than 9 in 10 said drivers should slow down or move over.

This shared instinct matters. The challenge is not convincing drivers that roadside safety matters but helping them recognize when to act — so slowing down and moving over becomes automatic.

Taken together, these findings offer a hopeful takeaway: most drivers value roadside safety, support stronger protections and instinctively understand that slowing down or moving over is the right response.

The opportunity now is to close the gap between shared belief and consistent behavior on the road.

Honoring Those Lost — and Protecting Those Still on the Roadside

Each year, families, friends and colleagues gather at the International Towing & Recovery Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to honor roadside workers whose lives were cut short while helping others. Their names are permanently etched on the museum’s Wall of the Fallen—a lasting reminder that every roadside stop carries risk.

Turning Good Intentions into Action

AAA urges drivers to turn that shared belief into action: stay alert, reduce speed and move over when safe whenever they approach flashing lights, hazard lights or a stopped vehicle on the roadside. The research shows most drivers already believe slowing down or moving over is the right response; now, the challenge is making that response automatic every time. These simple actions take only seconds, but they can save lives.

"The goal is to make slowing down and moving over an automatic response, not a last-second reaction," said Dr. William Van Tassel, AAA Driver Training Manager. "Drivers should scan ahead, ease off the accelerator early, and create space whenever they see flashing lights, hazard lights, or anyone stopped at the roadside." 

AAA’s Commitment to Roadside Safety

For more than two decades, AAA has championed Slow Down, Move Over laws nationwide and continues to advocate for clearer laws, stronger enforcement, public education and technology solutions that alert drivers to roadside incidents.

Every name on the Wall of the Fallen is a reminder to make roadside safety automatic:

Slow Down. Move Over. Stay Alert. Save a Life.