LANCASTER, Pa. — Pennsylvania’s Move Over Law was signed into law in 2020 and requires drivers to move over or slow down when approaching an emergency response area.
Despite the law carrying severe penalties, Brittany Sisca says plenty of people don’t follow it.
“So many people are ignorant to the move-over law, and they don’t know, or they don’t care,” Sisca said. In 2022, a distracted driver killed Brittany’s husband, Trooper Branden Sisca, leaving Brittany a widow and the couple’s infant daughter fatherless.
“The drivers are just more reckless now, they don’t pay attention, they’re on their phone, they’re texting, they’re doing social media,” Sisca said.
Todd Leiss started the nonprofit, TIM Heroes, after hearing too many stories like Sisca’s.
“Forty-two emergency responders have been struck and killed in the United States this year, this includes two Pennsylvania responders who were killed in August of this year, one a firefighter, one a tow truck operator,” Leiss told FOX43.
Leiss believes more education and outreach are the best ways to prevent similar tragedies.
“We need to get people to listen to the message and we need them to care enough to listen to the message and understand why the message is important,” Leiss said.
As part of the organization’s outreach, Leiss and his team decorated a Christmas tree at Clipper Magazine Stadium in Lancaster.
The tree is covered with pictures of people killed this year by distracted drivers, including Sisca’s husband.
“That’s a family, that’s a community, that’s a group of friends,” Leiss said.
The tree will be on display through December 23 and serves as a reminder to move over to save lives.
“We’re going to continue to be their voices, we’re going to continue going to events, and be their faces,” Sisca said.
Leiss’s group is currently accepting donations online, to donate- click here.