From Bay City News Service:
A driver struck a California Highway Patrol car that was attempting to direct traffic around a dead deer on U.S. Highway 101 outside of Sausalito on Friday morning, according to CHP.
The patrol car was controlling traffic on northbound 101 south of the Sausalito/Marin City offramp shortly before 9 a.m. by weaving through lanes with its emergency lights on.
Once the traffic behind the patrol car had slowed down, the officer moved to the center of the freeway. The 20-year-old driver of a Ford Taurus in the far left lane sped up and attempted to pass the patrol vehicle on the left, according to CHP.
At the same time, the officer found the deer blocking one of the left lanes, and moved the car to block the lane to facilitate moving the deer. The Ford Taurus struck the left front of the patrol car, causing minor damage.
The officer left her vehicle and stopped traffic by hand to move the dead deer to the right shoulder. She had the driver of the Taurus move the car out of the road and regular traffic resumed.
"Unfortunately, this is an all too common occurrence. Some motorists do not understand what we are doing when we drive across all lanes back and forth with our emergency lights on," CHP Sgt. Marcus Bartholomew said in a statement.
State law requires all vehicles to stay at least 300 feet behind any emergency vehicle with emergency lighting activated, according to the CHP.
By Bay City News Service.
