Arizona - Home of the Stupid Motorist Law

People take their lives into their own hands every day simply by slipping behind the steering wheels of their vehicles. In Arizona, the law says that if you do something stupid, you can be forced to pay for emergency response to rescue you.

You can find them every day, in every state of the country, in every city and town of every state. They're the drivers who think that the rules don't apply to them. You'll see them crossing railroad tracks when the lights are flashing and/or the barriers are lowered, entering areas closed for road construction, any number of things.

These drivers are not only a danger to themselves, they're a danger to others on the road, and when they get into emergency situations, they become a danger to the men and women who are called out to rescue them. Anyone who has spent a significant amount of time in emergency services can tell you, the accidents and rescue operations that could have been prevented by someone simply following posted signs to stay out are the ones that get the least sympathy.

In Tuscon, Arizona, if you are found guilty of creating a rescue situation by failing to follow postings, you may just have to pay the bill for your own rescue. The name of the law, appropriately enough, is the Stupid Motorist Law.

The law was passed in 1995 and requires drivers to reimburse the state for the cost of certain rescues.

"The Stupid Motorist Law as it's commonly referred to is basically a law that says that in the event that a lower lying roadway or area is flooded, it's barricaded, and you drive around the barricade, you can be billed for that," said Joel Peterson, Risk Manager for the City of Tucson's Department of Finance; Risk Management Division.

What if there are no barricades up? "If the barricades are up, then that will make a difference; the law applies.

If the barricades are not up, the law does not apply," he said.

What if you're sitting in your car when a storm rolls in and you get trapped?

"If they're already in there, and they're stuck in traffic then, no- because the barricades would not have been up," said Peterson.

Emergency response involves hours upon hours of training and education, practice, and coordination to develop effective means of rescuing those who are in danger. Emergency personal, though trained, are literally stepping into the same situation as those they are called upon to rescue in order to pull them out of danger and bring them back to safety.

It's dangerous work, and the rescuer is often dealing with someone who is potentially in a panic by the time they reach them. The rescuer has to make sure of their own safety as well as the safety of those they are being sent in to recover. And no two incidents are ever the same, meaning the rescuer has to be able to think ahead and plan, very often, each and every move they make before they even reach the victim.

Personally, having spent ten years as a volunteer fire fighter, I think this is a great law. It's one of those laws that just makes sense. If you see a barricade that says to stay out, do the right thing, STAY OUT and keep yourself, and others, safe.

While it is true that firefighters and other rescue personnel tend to be, to a degree, adrenaline junkies, they would rather be sitting around the station house waiting for a call than to have to respond to a situation that could have been prevented if someone had simply been obeying the law.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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