When a Patrol Car Weaves Across Every Lane: How a Traffic Break Works
It looks alarming the first time: a patrol car with its lights on, zig-zagging from lane to lane at a crawl, and the whole freeway slowing behind it. Some drivers brake hard; some try to get around it. Both are the wrong response, and both cause the collisions the break exists to prevent.
Why officers run them
The DMV handbook lists three purposes for a traffic break:
- To slow or stop traffic so a hazard can be removed from the road — a ladder, a mattress, a tire, a crashed car being moved.
- To slow or stop traffic during heavy fog or other unusual conditions.
- To prevent collisions while those conditions last.
The point is to create an empty stretch of freeway ahead of the patrol car, where workers or officers can do something dangerous without traffic arriving at speed.
What the DMV says to do
- Turn on your emergency flashers to warn the drivers behind you.
- Slow down gradually to the same speed as the officer.
- Do not brake suddenly unless you must to avoid a collision.
- Keep a safe distance from the patrol car ahead of you.
- Do not drive past the patrol car.
- Do not speed up until the officer turns off the emergency lights and traffic allows you to return to normal speed.
The mistakes that cause collisions inside a break
The hard stop. Seeing lights ahead, a driver stands on the brakes and the car behind, not yet aware of anything, does not. Gradual is the whole idea.
The on-ramp merge. Drivers joining from a ramp often do not realise the freeway is being slowed and accelerate into the gap that has opened ahead of the patrol car. If you are on a ramp and see lights weaving, match the speed of the lanes you are joining.
The impatient pass. Squeezing past the patrol car takes you straight into the space the officer is clearing, often toward people standing in the road.
Tailgating the patrol car. The officer may slow to a stop. Keep enough room to stop without contact.
A traffic break is not a pull-over, and not a siren behind you
A traffic break is aimed at everyone in every lane, not at you. Keep moving at the officer's pace; do not pull onto the shoulder unless directed. That is different from an emergency vehicle approaching from behind with a siren, when the right response is to move to the right and stop. Knowing which is which keeps you from doing something unexpected in the middle of a slowing freeway.
If a collision happens during a break
Most collisions in a traffic break are rear-end impacts caused by a driver who did not slow in time. California's regulation on principal fault presumes that a driver who is rear-ended, and not convicted of a moving violation for the accident, is not principally at fault. If you hit the car ahead, your liability coverage pays for their damage and your collision coverage, if you carry it, pays for yours, subject to the deductible. Following the DMV's steps is also your best evidence that you drove the break the way you were supposed to.
Questions about how a freeway collision would play out on your own policy? Send it over and we will walk you through it.
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Can I pass the patrol car during a traffic break?
No. The DMV handbook says not to drive past the patrol vehicle, and not to speed up until the officer turns off the emergency lights and traffic allows.
Why should I turn on my hazard lights?
To warn the drivers behind you that traffic is slowing sharply. The DMV lists it as the first step in a traffic break.
Is a traffic break the same as being pulled over?
No. A traffic break slows every lane; keep moving at the officer's pace unless you are directed otherwise.
Is a traffic break the same thing as a SigAlert?
No. A SigAlert is a CHP bulletin about an unplanned delay; a traffic break is a physical slowdown an officer creates on the road, sometimes at the same incident.