BREVARD COUNTYA, Fla. — After a 27-year-old North Carolina paramedic was hit and killed on the side of I-95 in Brevard County, it is sounding the alarm to slow down and move over.
“Too many first responders are being killed,” Paul Libri, the Founder of Slow Down Move Over Inc. said.
According to Libri, 27-year-old Mary Jolly is the third first responder to be killed on the side of a Florida roadway this year. He said that the number has reached 31 across the country.
“The first thing you should be doing is slowing down,” Libri said. “Once you slow down enough, move over when it’s safe to do so. If not, slow down 20 miles per hour below the speed limit.”
Libri said that so far this year in Florida, there have been 204 crashes involving drivers not following the Move Over Law. For those breaking the law, he said, Florida law enforcement has written 17,544 citations.
“This was three separate crashes that occurred it was a devastating crash,” Tara Crescenzi with the Florida Highway Patrol said.
Troopers said Jolly was hit Saturday morning just after midnight on I-95 near State Road 46 in Mims. She was off-duty and pulled over to help a man who had been hit by a car.
The man died at the scene. Jolly was airlifted to the hospital but died Monday.
Jolly was as a paramedic for Gaston County Emergency Services in North Carolina since 2021. The agency told us Jolly was highly decorated. In 2023 she earned the B-Shift Outstanding Paramedic Award.
“She stopped to offer assistance because that’s the kind of person she was,” Libri said. “Then she pays the ultimate price for it.” To protect more lives Libri said penalties for not following the Move Over Law need to be stiffer.
“If we hit people in their pocket they are going to pay attention,” Libri said. “Make it inconvenient for the people who are doing it.”
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