Texas Transportation Code § 545.157, the Move Over law, tells drivers approaching certain roadside vehicles, most of them using warning lights, to leave the lane closest to them when the road has two or more lanes in their direction, or to slow to 20 miles an hour under the posted limit. A truck driver is held to the same rule, and a violation that injures someone is a Class A misdemeanor.
The short version
- Two choices, not one. Vacate the closest lane on a road with at least two lanes your way, or slow to 20 mph below the limit (5 mph where the limit is under 25) (§ 545.157(b)).
- Eight kinds of vehicle are covered. They include emergency vehicles, tow trucks, TxDOT and highway work vehicles, utility service vehicles and, since 1 September 2025, animal control and parking enforcement vehicles (§ 545.157(a); TxDOT).
- The ordinary fine runs from $500 to $1,250. If the offense results in bodily injury to another person, it becomes a Class A misdemeanor (§ 545.157(c)).
- A lane change must still be safe. Nothing in the Move Over law cancels the separate rule that a driver changes lanes only when it can be done safely (§ 545.060(a)).
- A civil claim is a separate question. Texas courts decide, statute by statute, whether to treat a law as the standard of care (Perry v. S.N., Tex. 1998).
What does the Texas Move Over law require?
On approaching a covered vehicle, a driver must, unless a police officer directs otherwise, either vacate the lane closest to it on a highway with two or more lanes in the direction of travel, or slow to a speed not above 20 mph below the posted limit, or 5 mph where the limit is below 25 mph.
That is the structure of subsection (b), in the text the Texas Legislature publishes, read on 16 October 2026. Two details are easy to miss. The lane-change option is written for a roadway with at least two lanes going the driver’s way; the slowing option carries no lane-count condition. And the statute speaks of the lane “closest to the vehicle”, not the left lane, so the closest lane may be on either side. TxDOT’s public page puts the rule in everyday terms: move over an entire lane, or slow to 20 mph below the posted limit, and drop to 5 mph where the posted limit is 25 mph or less; the statute itself says “less than 25 miles per hour” (TxDOT, Move Over or Slow Down, read 16 October 2026).
Our article on the first hour after a crash on I-45 mentions the rule in passing; see the I-45 first-hour guide. This post is about the rule itself and what it means when a truck is involved.
Which vehicles does the Move Over law protect?
Subsection (a) lists eight kinds of vehicle and says the section applies “only” to them: emergency vehicles, tow trucks, TxDOT and highway work vehicles, utility service vehicles, certain waste and recycling trucks, toll project vehicles, animal control vehicles and parking-enforcement vehicles, most of them when displaying visual signals.
| Subdivision | Vehicle | Condition in the statute |
|---|---|---|
| (a)(1) | Authorized emergency vehicle | Stationary, using visual signals that meet Sections 547.305 and 547.702. |
| (a)(2) | Tow truck | Stationary, using equipment authorized by Section 547.305(d). |
| (a)(3) | TxDOT vehicle, or a highway maintenance or construction vehicle under a qualifying contract | Not separated from the roadway by a traffic control channelizing device, and using compliant visual signals. |
| (a)(4) | Utility service vehicle | Using compliant visual signals. |
| (a)(5) | Municipal solid waste or recyclable material vehicle | Stationary, used exclusively for that purpose, while removing material from a location adjacent to the highway. |
| (a)(6) | Toll project entity vehicle | Operated by or under contract with the entity, using compliant visual signals. |
| (a)(7) | Animal control or carcass-removal vehicle | Removing an animal or carcass from a roadway, using compliant visual signals. |
| (a)(8) | Local authority parking-citation vehicle | Operated by an employee issuing a parking citation, using compliant visual signals. |
Source: Texas Transportation Code § 545.157, read 16 October 2026. The statute defines “tow truck” by reference to an Occupations Code permit and licence.
The last two rows match the vehicles TxDOT’s page says were added. It says that since 1 September 2025 the law “has been expanded” to include vehicles driven by animal control officers and parking enforcement employees. The list is also narrower than many drivers assume: a disabled car or an ordinary parked truck with its hazards on is not one of the eight, a point taken up below.
How do the lane and speed rules apply to an 18-wheeler?
They apply the same way. A truck driver must leave the closest lane where the road has at least two lanes going his way, or slow to 20 mph below the limit. The statute offers slowing as the alternative, and § 545.060 allows a lane change only when it can be made safely.
The statute does not tell a driver to change lanes at any cost. Section 545.060(a) tells a driver on a laned roadway to stay as nearly as practical within one lane, and to move out only when the movement can be made safely, and § 545.351 bars driving faster than is reasonable and prudent under the circumstances. Read together, these allow a truck driver approaching a flashing tow truck in dense traffic to choose the slowing option instead of swerving. With a limit of 65 mph, for example, the slowing rule means no more than 45 mph past the stopped vehicle, and with a limit of 25 mph or more the ceiling is 20 mph below it.
The statute says nothing about vehicle size, but stopping distance is part of the picture. How far an 18-wheeler needs to stop is covered in our article on trucks that fail to stop, and the driving-hours rules that bear on a tired driver’s judgment are in the hours-of-service guide. A driver who looks at a phone while approaching a roadside scene raises a separate issue, dealt with in our distracted-driver article and the wider distracted driving page.
What are the penalties for violating the Move Over law?
The base offense is a misdemeanor fined $500 to $1,250. Repeating the offense within five years raises the range to $1,000 to $2,000; hurting someone makes it a Class A misdemeanor, and doing so again can become a state jail felony.
| Offense | Penalty |
|---|---|
| First offense | Misdemeanor; fine from $500 up to $1,250 (§ 545.157(c)). |
| Second or later offense committed within five years of the last one | Fine from $1,000 up to $2,000 (§ 545.157(c)(1)). |
| Offense that results in bodily injury to another | Class A misdemeanor (§ 545.157(c)(2)): a fine up to $4,000, up to one year in jail, or both (Penal Code § 12.21). |
| Second or later offense punishable under the injury provision | State jail felony (§ 545.157(c)(3)): 180 days to two years in a state jail and a fine up to $10,000 (Penal Code § 12.35). |
| Prior conviction under this section | The court may suspend the driver’s licence for up to six months (§ 545.157(d-1)). |
Sources: Transportation Code § 545.157 and Penal Code ch. 12, both read on 16 October 2026.
TxDOT’s page summarizes the same penalties as a fine of up to $1,250 for a first offense and, for drivers who cause serious injuries, possible jail time and a fine of up to $4,000. The statute itself says “bodily injury”, which is broader than “serious” injury, so the statute governs. Under subsection (d), conduct that also breaks another traffic or Penal Code provision may be prosecuted under either law or both.
How dangerous is the roadside in Texas?
TxDOT reports more than 28,000 traffic crashes in Texas work zones in 2025, with 203 people killed, including seven roadside workers. Most of those killed were drivers or their passengers. That figure covers work zones, not Move Over violations.
The numbers come from TxDOT’s work zone safety page, read 16 October 2026. They show why a roadside scene is a hazard for everyone passing it, but they cannot be read as a count of drivers who failed to move over. The TxDOT pages read give no figure for crashes with stopped emergency, tow or utility vehicles, so none is stated here.
Houston’s own freeways supply the human side. FOX 26 reported on 28 July 2026 that a jury sentenced Omar Jose Alvarado to a total of 45 years for the deaths of Harris County Precinct 5 deputy constable Katherine Hutson and her eight-year-old daughter, Kacey, in a November 2024 crash on the I-10 Katy Freeway. According to the report, Hutson had been working an off-duty traffic control job for a construction crew and was in her Chevrolet Impala with its emergency light bar equipment on, positioned behind the crew, when Alvarado’s car struck it from behind (FOX 26 Houston, July 28, 2026). The charge was intoxication manslaughter, not a Move Over offense, and a truck was not the striking vehicle. It illustrates the danger of a roadside work area beside live traffic. For families facing a loss like this, the firm’s wrongful death page and its page for drunk driving victims are the places to start.
Does the Move Over law protect a disabled truck on the shoulder?
Not by itself. Subsection (a) says the section applies only to the vehicles it lists, and an ordinary stopped truck or car is not on the list. A tow truck, emergency vehicle or other listed vehicle that has arrived at the scene is covered while it meets the statute’s conditions.
That does not leave the occupant of a stopped vehicle without protection from other law, and a reconstruction expert often explains how the vehicles met. The general duties in § 545.060 and § 545.351 still bind every driver, and a driver who drifts onto a shoulder and strikes a parked vehicle faces an ordinary negligence claim. If the crash involved a driver who failed to brake in time, read our page on failure-to-stop crashes; if it happened on a busy road, the list of Houston’s most dangerous roads may help explain the setting.
How does a Move Over violation by a truck driver affect an injury claim?
It can be strong evidence of carelessness, but it is not automatic. In Texas a court decides whether a statute sets the standard of conduct for a civil claim, so a violation of § 545.157 is an argument for the injured person, not a guaranteed finding of fault.
In Perry v. S.N., 973 S.W.2d 301 (Tex. 1998) the Texas Supreme Court noted that some of its opinions had suggested any statutory violation is automatically negligence per se, then explained that the Restatement rule Texas follows leaves it to the court’s discretion whether to adopt a statute as the standard of conduct. Whether a court would do so for § 545.157 is a question for counsel and is not decided here. A citation or conviction is also a separate matter from the civil case; our article on reckless driving crashes explains how that distinction works for another traffic offense.
A violation by a truck driver can also reach the company, and in extreme cases the question becomes gross negligence against the carrier. Who may be liable besides the driver is covered in our liability article, and the records that show what happened, such as electronic logs and any camera footage, are the subject of our evidence article. Insurance coverage on the truck is a further question, answered in our truck insurance article. If you share the blame in some way, comparative negligence may reduce what you can recover.
Where do you go from here after a roadside crash involving a truck?
Start with the post-crash checklist and the list of mistakes to avoid, which cover the scene, the evidence and the insurer, then ask a lawyer whether the Move Over rule bears on your crash. This post covers only the rule itself.
The steps are laid out in our post-crash checklist, and the pitfalls in the mistakes article. Ordering the report is explained in our crash-report guide. For an overview of how truck claims differ from car claims, see our 18-wheeler overview, and for what a lawyer does on such a claim, this walkthrough. Other ways truck crashes happen, and what each cause means for a claim, are covered in our article on the common causes of Houston truck accidents.
Broader injury questions go to the personal injury page, and truck-case details are on the Houston 18-wheeler page; the contact form is the way to ask about a particular crash.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Move Over law apply on two-lane roads and city streets?
The slowing rule has no lane-count condition, so it applies wherever the section applies. The option to vacate the closest lane is written for a highway with two or more lanes traveling in the driver’s direction (§ 545.157(b)).
Do the stopped vehicle’s lights have to be on for the law to apply?
For most listed vehicles, yes. The statute describes emergency vehicles, tow trucks, TxDOT and highway work vehicles, utility, toll, animal control and parking vehicles as using visual signals that meet specified standards. The waste and recycling vehicle is described by its stationary use instead.
How slow is 20 mph under the limit if the limit is 25 mph?
Five mph. The statute sets 20 mph under the posted limit when that limit is at least 25 mph, and 5 mph where the limit is below 25 mph, so a 25 mph zone and a slower zone both produce 5 mph.
Can a Move Over conviction cost a driver’s licence?
It can for a repeat offender. If the trial shows a previous conviction under § 545.157, the court may suspend the driver’s licence for up to six months (§ 545.157(d-1)). It is a discretionary power, not an automatic penalty.
Did the Move Over law change in 2025?
TxDOT’s Move Over or Slow Down page says the law was expanded on 1 September 2025 to include vehicles driven by animal control officers and parking enforcement employees. Subdivisions (a)(7) and (a)(8) of the statute as published by the Legislature cover those vehicles.
What if a police officer tells traffic to do something different?
Subsection (b) begins “unless otherwise directed by a police officer”. The duty to vacate or slow therefore applies unless an officer directs otherwise, and what an officer’s direction means at a particular scene is a matter for the facts.
About the authors
Sam A. Maida, Jr.
Owner and Managing Attorney
Sam A. Maida, Jr. has represented injured Texans in the greater Houston area since the firm opened in 1993.
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Bernard G. Johnson III
Litigation Managing Attorney
Bernard G. Johnson III is a board certified trial lawyer licensed in Texas since 1996 and a graduate of South Texas College of Law.