First, to answer your question about intent. All traffic law, unless expressly written otherwise, are crimes of 'strict liability' and no intent (no "mens rea") is required. Only the act itself (the "actus reus") is required to be proven. The Alabama Move Over Law has been re-written at least twice due to poor legislative drafting and deficiency in statutory construction. The current version is located in Code section 32-5A-58.2 This type of charge is defensible since the wording of the statute uses a term of ambiguity in the construction of the statute. As a general rule, the operator of an on-coming vehicle has the duty to change lanes upon the approach of a stopped emergency vehicle with emergency lights in operation. However, the last sentence in sub-section (a) states: "If not safe to move over, the driver shall slow to a speed that is at least 15 miles per hour less than the posted speed limit unless otherwise directed by a law enforcement officer." This wording is unusual in the sense the decision to move over is left to the operator to decide if the move to other lane is "safe" or unsafe. But if the operator does not move over, then the speed must be reduced to 15 miles per hour to less than the posted speed limit.

Whenever a criminal statute can be interpreted in more than one logical way, and one interpretation is less harsh in the result than the other, the 'rule of lenity' must apply. This is a well-established judicial doctrine that holds whenever a criminal statute by a fair reading of the words contained in the statute uses words or terms that are ambiguous and may be interpreted in more than one way, then the issue relating to prohibitions and penalties must be resolved in favor of the defendant when to do so would not be contrary to legislative intent.

Your best course of action is to retain the services of qualified criminal defense attorney to assist you. Check the Avvo listing under 'DUI/Traffic' for an attorney in your area.