Hernando deputy nearly struck in Brooksville Move Over Law stop
A Ford pickup sped past Lt. Scott Lamia on Cortez Boulevard and hit a Postal Service vehicle, a close call the sheriff’s office says shows why drivers must move over or slow down.
A Ford pickup truck sped past Lt. Scott Lamia during a traffic stop on Cortez Boulevard in Brooksville on June 22, coming so close to the Hernando County deputy that the encounter could have turned deadly. The Hernando County Sheriff's Office released body-camera and dash-camera video showing the truck then striking a U.S. Postal Service vehicle after passing the stopped scene.
Lamia was speaking with a female driver he had stopped on the side of the road when the pickup went by, forcing the issue of Florida’s Move Over law into plain view. No injuries were reported, but the sheriff’s office said the footage shows how quickly a roadside stop can become a serious crash scene. The agency said the video is a reminder that deputies, first responders, tow operators, utility workers and roadside service crews work in the danger zone every day.
Florida Statute 316.126 requires drivers to move over a lane when approaching stopped emergency, service or utility vehicles on the roadside if it is safe to do so. If changing lanes is not safe on a two-lane road, motorists must slow down to 20 mph below the posted speed limit when the limit is 25 mph or higher, or to 5 mph when the limit is 20 mph or lower. That means a driver on a busy road like Cortez Boulevard has a legal duty to react before reaching the stop, not after.
The law also grew broader on Jan. 1, 2025. Florida now covers any vehicle parked on the roadside with hazard lights flashing, emergency flares or visible emergency signage, including disabled vehicles and vehicles with a flat tire. The expansion makes the same slow down and move over rules apply in more roadside emergencies, not just law enforcement stops.
State safety officials say the danger is not rare. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles says drivers ages 20 to 29 are statistically the most likely to violate the Move Over law. In 2024, Florida recorded 205 Move Over-related crashes and more than 17,500 citations for failing to move over. In Hernando County, the close call on Cortez Boulevard turned those numbers into a live warning on one of the county’s busiest corridors.
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