Ontario's Move Over Law: What to Do When You Pass a Stopped Tow Truck

You're driving down the 401 near London and up ahead there's a car pulled onto the shoulder with a tow truck behind it, amber lights going. Most drivers slow down a little out of instinct and keep moving. Fewer know that Ontario law actually requires you to either change lanes or slow down and give that tow truck real space, and that ignoring it can cost you a lot more than a moment of inconvenience.

This is the Move Over Law, and it applies just as much to our trucks as it does to police cars and ambulances. We see close calls with it more often than you'd think, so here's what the law says, what it means for you on London-area highways, and what happens if you don't follow it.

What Ontario's Move Over Law Actually Says

Under section 159 of Ontario's Highway Traffic Act, drivers approaching a stopped emergency vehicle with its lights flashing have to slow down and proceed with caution. The list of vehicles covered isn't limited to police, fire, and ambulance. It also includes tow trucks stopped on the roadside with their amber lights on, which covers exactly the kind of call we run every day on the 401 and 402 through London, St. Thomas, and Woodstock.

If the road you're on has two or more lanes running in your direction, and it's safe to do so, you're required to change lanes and put a full lane of space between your vehicle and the stopped tow truck. If you can't change lanes safely, whether because of traffic beside you or a merge point, the law still requires you to slow down and pass with caution.

Why the Law Includes Tow Trucks

It's easy to assume this rule is only about police and paramedics, but tow operators spend their whole shift working in exactly the spot the law is trying to protect. Hitching up a vehicle means standing between two cars on the shoulder, often with traffic passing at highway speed a few feet away. A driver who doesn't slow down or move over is driving past someone on foot who has nowhere to go if something goes wrong.

Our drivers run amber beacons, wear reflective gear, and set out cones on longer jobs specifically because so few drivers realize a tow truck falls under this law at all. Knowing the rule exists, and that it's enforced, changes how people drive past a scene like that.

What the Penalties Actually Are

This isn't a rule that only shows up in a driving handbook nobody reads twice. Ontario enforces it with real penalties. For a first offence, you're looking at a fine between $400 and $2,000, three demerit points on conviction, and a possible licence suspension of up to two years. If you're convicted again within five years, the fine jumps to a range of $1,000 to $4,000, and you could be facing up to six months in jail on top of the same demerit points and possible suspension.

Those numbers come straight from Ontario's own driving rules, and CAA's road safety advocacy confirms the same figures. It's one of the more serious moving violations on the books for something that costs you almost nothing to comply with: easing off the gas and giving a stopped vehicle some room.

How to Actually Move Over Safely

Knowing the law is one thing. Executing it in the moment on a busy stretch of the 401 is another. A few practical points:

• Start slowing down and checking your mirrors as soon as you spot the flashing lights, not once you're already alongside the scene.
• Signal early so the drivers around you know what you're doing.
• If a lane change isn't safe, don't force it. Slow down and hold your lane position as far from the shoulder as the lane allows.
• Don't stop or slow to a crawl to look. Distracted rubbernecking around an active tow scene causes almost as many close calls as failing to move over in the first place.
• If you're merging back afterward, check your blind spot before you do.

On rural stretches through Middlesex, Elgin, and Oxford counties, shoulders tend to be narrower and traffic doesn't always expect a stopped vehicle around a curve. Give yourself more room to react there than you would in the city.

If You're the One Broken Down

If you're ever the driver on the shoulder waiting for one of our trucks, the same law is working in your favour, but it only helps if other drivers actually see you in time. Get as far onto the shoulder as you safely can, turn on your hazards, and stay inside your vehicle with your seatbelt on unless it's genuinely unsafe to remain there. We've written more on that exact situation, including when it makes sense to wait outside the vehicle instead, in our guide on whether it's safe to wait in your car during a roadside breakdown. If your breakdown happens specifically on the 401 corridor, our guide to breaking down on the 401 near London covers the shoulder positioning and call details that help our driver find you faster.

Once our truck arrives with lights on, you're now part of the scene other drivers are legally required to move over for, so staying visible and out of the traffic lanes matters for your safety too, not just ours.

A Rule Worth Knowing Before You Need It

Most drivers never think about the Move Over Law until a police officer mentions it during a stop, or worse, after a close call on the shoulder. It's a simple habit once you know it applies to tow trucks and not just emergency services: see the amber lights, slow down, and move over a lane if you can do it safely. It protects the person standing on the shoulder, and it keeps you from a fine that starts at $400 and climbs fast from there.

EMS Towing runs 24/7 across London, St. Thomas, Woodstock, and Middlesex, Elgin, and Oxford counties, and our drivers are out on these shoulders in every kind of traffic and weather. If you're ever stuck and need a hand, call us at (226) 476-4176, and if a stopped tow truck is protecting our crew on your drive home, give them the room the law asks for.