Woman who lost legs in wreck stresses importance of Texas ‘Move Over or Slow Down’ law

HOUSTON (KIAH) — Heather Haenes’ life was forever changed on January 9, 2007.

She got into in a fender bender along an Austin highway and was standing between her car and the other one involved in the minor accident.

Haenes ended up pinned between the two cars when a third car slammed into them.

She lost both legs in the crash, but she’s managed to live an active life through the use of prosthetics and sheer will.

On Friday at 10 a.m., she’ll speak to the media from the AAA Texas Houston Memorial Branch urging all drivers to follow “Move Over or Slow Down.”

When an emergency vehicle, tow truck, construction vehicle, or roadside assistance truck is along the side of a road with its lights flashing, that law requires a driver to move over so that there’s at least one lane between their car and those vehicles or to slow down below the posted speed limit.

Haenes remarks come as AAA is trying to get the law that’s on the books in all 50 states expanded.

The auto club wants drivers to have to move over or slow down for any vehicle that’s on the side of a road, not just emergency vehicles.

AAA says that 24 emergency workers die on average every year in the U.S. in roadside crashes making the law an important one.

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