Hawaii is the only state in the country without a law requiring motorists to give a one-lane safety cushion, or to slow down, when driving around a police car, firetruck or ambulance that is stopped to help someone.

Four months after police officer Eric Fontes was struck and killed by a motorist as he was standing beside Farrington Highway near Honokai Hale for a traffic stop, the Honolulu Police Department and other emergency first responders are pushing for the state Legislature to pass a bill to bring Hawaii in line with the other states.

Fontes’ death is still under investigation, and there is no certainty the law would have made a difference on the night of Sept. 13, when motorist James Dorsey Mancao’s pickup truck plowed into a row of police cars stopped on the left shoulder of Farrington Highway just before Ko Olina. Fontes was struck and killed, and officer Herman "Sam" Scanlan was injured.

But Maj. Kurt Kendro, who heads HPD’s Traffic Division, said the dangers faced by police officers, firefighters and paramedics when they need to work on the side of the highway are too great for Hawaii not to have a law.

"Every year, first responders around the nation are killed by people who are passing by," Kendro said. "Move Over America," a partnership founded in 2007 by the National Safety Commission, the National Sheriffs’ Association and the National Association of Police Organizations, said Hawaii and the District of Columbia are the only jurisdictions in the U.S. without a "move over" law.

Three HPD officers, including Fontes, have been killed on Oahu’s roads while conducting a traffic stop or directing traffic since 1991. While it might appear obvious to some drivers that they should move away from a stopped emergency vehicle, making it a law would reinforce the practice.

"It’s not really that we want to give out citations for this," Kendro said, "but we want to change people’s behavior when they see first responders along the highways and roadways. It may not be that easy to enforce, but it’s about education."

Kendro said he would expect public service announcements on the issue and that the new law would be part of the study guide for people preparing for the state driver’s license test.

Senate Bill 61, introduced last year by Senate Public Safety Chairman Will Espero, would require motorists to travel two lanes away from an emergency vehicle with its emergency lights flashing that is stopped to help a person or vehicle. The bill was not scheduled for a hearing, leaving it stalled in the 2010 session.

Emergency vehicles include police or fire vehicles, ambulances and even tow trucks. It would not matter whether the emergency vehicle is on the shoulder or in a through lane (open traffic).

If there are not two through lanes in the same direction to move over, drivers would be required to slow down. On a thoroughfare where the speed limit is 25 mph or more, including freeways, a driver would need to drive 20 mph slower. On a road with a speed limit less than 25 mph, a motorist would have to slow to 5 mph.

"In a situation where an emergency vehicle is stopped, you never really know what’s going to happen; it’s a dynamic situation," Kendro said. "A buffer zone is for the safety of the officers, the people they’ve stopped or those they’re helping."

A violation of the law would be a misdemeanor.

Patty Dukes, chief of the city Emergency Medical Services Division, said she recalls two instances in recent years in which emergency medical technicians were injured by passing motorists.

"In one instance a car hit two paramedics as they wheeled a patient to the ambulance," Dukes said. "Both sustained serious injury. In another instance a paramedic jumped out of the path of a car careening around an offramp. He ended up on the hood when the car hit the ambulance. He suffered minor injuries."

Honolulu Fire Chief Kenneth Silva also supports the bill, said spokesman Capt. Terry Seelig. "Any bill that would protect first responders is a good thing," Seelig said.

Seelig could not recall when a firefighter has been hit by a passing motorist, but "the potential is there," he said. "We have had vehicles struck by cars at emergency scenes," he said. "When that happens you realize how dangerous it is."

Drivers of firetrucks try to position their vehicles in a way that avoids crashes, and today’s fire equipment also has reflective strips that shine as vehicles approach, Seelig said.

Espero said he introduced the bill last session, before Fontes’ death, after reading about the subject. "One would think it’s a common-sense type of thing. But obviously that’s not the case when you see people just whizzing by," said Espero (D, Ewa-Honouliuli-Ewa Beach).

State Rep. Karen Awana said she intends to introduce a similar "move over" bill in the House because of the Fontes tragedy.

"If this measure had been implemented, it may have made a great difference on the outcome," said Awana (D, Kalaeloa-Nanakuli), noting that her version might include all people stopped on the side for medical help or emergency help, even if they aren’t first responders.

Espero said he had not given much thought to including people who aren’t first responders, but he said he would look into it. "The key is what is feasible and what would work," he said.

The bill’s first hurdles would be the Public Safety committees of the House and Senate.

Fallen officers

Honolulu police officers killed on Oahu’s roads while conducting a traffic stop or directing traffic since 1991:

» Officer Eric Fontes was struck and killed by an automobile while conducting a traffic stop with other officers on Farrington Highway on Sept. 13. The stopped vehicle was along the median in the left-hand lane. Another car entered the scene and struck one of the patrol cars, Fontes and officer Herman "Sam" Scanlan.

» Officer Dannygriggs Padayao was struck and killed by a drunken driver while laying down flares at the scene of a minor traffic accident on Kamehameha Highway on April 30, 2001.

» Officer Randal N. Young was killed by a drunken driver who struck him while he was giving a ticket to another motorist on Pali Highway on Aug. 28, 1991.