PETITION OF:

SECTION 1. Chapter 89 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 7A, as appearing in the 2002 Official Edition, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 7A. (a) Upon the immediate approach of an authorized emergency vehicle including any fire apparatus, police vehicle, ambulance or disaster vehicles which is going to a fire or responding to call, alarm or emergency situation, the driver of every vehicle shall, when such emergency vehicle is giving audible signals by siren, exhaust whistle, or other adequate device, or visible signals by the use of displayed blue or red lights, or amber or yellow rotating or flashing lights, yield the right-of-way to the emergency vehicle and shall immediately proceed to a position parallel to, and as close as reasonable to the closest edge of the curb of the roadway, clear of any intersection and shall stop and remain in position until the authorized emergency vehicle has passed, unless otherwise directed by any law enforcement officer.

(b) When an authorized emergency vehicle making use of any visual signals is parked or a wrecker displaying amber rotating or flashing lights is performing a recovery or loading on the roadside, the driver of every other vehicle, as soon as it is safe:

(1) Shall vacate the lane closest to the emergency vehicle or wrecker when driving on an interstate highway or other highway with two or more lanes traveling in the direction of the emergency vehicle or wrecker, except when otherwise directed by a law enforcement officer.

(2) Shall 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 5 miles per hour when the posted speed limit is 20 miles per hour or less, when driving on a two-lane road, except when otherwise directed by a law enforcement officer.

(c) The Registry of Motor Vehicles shall provide an educational awareness campaign informing the motoring public about the Move Over Act. The registry shall provide information about the Move Over Act in all newly printed driver’s license educational materials after July 1, 2005.

(d) Every pedestrian using the road right-of-way shall yield the right-of-way until the authorized emergency vehicle has passed, unless otherwise directed by any police officer.

(e) Any authorized emergency vehicle, when en route to meet an existing emergency, shall warn all other vehicular traffic along the emergency route by an audible signal, siren, exhaust whistle, or other adequate device or by a visible signal by the use of displayed blue or red or yellow or amber lights. While en route to such emergency, the emergency vehicle shall otherwise proceed in a manner consistent with the laws regulating vehicular traffic upon the highways of this state

(f) No person shall drive a vehicle over a hose of a fire department without the consent of a member of such department. No person shall drive a vehicle within three hundred feet of any fire apparatus going to a fire or responding to an alarm, nor drive said vehicle, or park or leave the same unattended, within eight hundred feet of a fire or within the fire lanes established by the fire department, or upon or beside any traveled way, whether public or private, leading to the scene of a fire, in such a manner as to obstruct the approach to the fire of any fire apparatus or any ambulance, safety or police vehicle, or of any vehicle bearing an official fire or police department designation. Authorized police or fire department personnel may tow a vehicle found to be in violation of the provisions of this section or which is illegally parked or standing in a fire lane as established by the fire department, whether or not a fire is in progress, and such personnel shall not be subject to the provisions of section one hundred and twenty D of chapter two hundred and sixty-six. No person shall operate a motor vehicle behind any such fire apparatus, ambulance, safety or police vehicle, or any vehicle bearing an official fire department designation which is operating with emergency systems on, for a distance of three hundred feet. Any person who violates the provisions of this section shall be punished by a fine of no less than one hundred dollars.

Nothing herein contained shall diminish or enlarge any rules of evidence or liability in any case involving the operation of an emergency vehicle This section shall not operate to relieve the driver of an authorized emergency vehicle from the duty to drive with due regard for the safety of all persons using the highway.