News > Safety for Life: Move Over for Roadside Crews

Safety for Life: Move Over for Roadside Crews

April 24, 2025

At Stearns Electric, we value safety for all – our member-consumers, the community and our employees. But we need your help! Often, our employees are out and about working along the side of the road. We kindly ask that if you see utility or emergency crews working on the side of the road, to please move over and give them extra space. 

Stearns Electric work crews might be on the side of the road for many reasons: 

• Large projects with multiple bucket trucks, cones, signs and flashing lights. 
• Small projects with only one bucket truck and a couple of lineworkers present. 
• A new service or project that is being staked by a line design engineer, or a tree clearing project with only one pickup truck present. 

Whether it’s a large or small project, it’s always important to give extra space for utility crews to work safely. 

All of our field crews wear high-visibility clothing or safety vests, which helps keep them safe day or night and in any weather condition. Plus, our utility vehicles have flashing lights to help them be more visible when they are parked along the side of the road. 

Remember, it is state law to move over whenever you see any vehicle with flashing lights on the side of the road. The Minnesota “Move Over Law” is intended to keep emergency workers safe and prevent motorists from crashing into stopped vehicles. This law includes and protects utility crews.

Help us bring all of our employees home safely every night by slowing down, moving over and minimizing distractions.

April is also Distracted Driving Awareness Month and according to the National Safety Council (NSC), our roads are the most dangerous they’ve been in years. On a typical day, eight people are killed and hundreds more are injured in distracted-affected crashes.

The danger for distracted driving crashes is increased for our lineworkers, utility crews and first responders who are working and responding to emergencies where roadways are already smaller due to the nature of their work.

It’s been nearly six years since Minnesota’s “Hands-Free Law” went into effect. Drivers are able to utilize hands-free technology via voice commands or single-touch activation, but are not allowed to hold their phone will driving.

Hands-free is a great step in the right direction, but hands-free is not guaranteed to be distraction-free.

Please make the commitment to minimize all distractions while you are driving and follow the Minnesota “Move Over Law” for everyone’s safety. There’s plenty of room for all. Let’s work together to keep everyone safe on our local roadways.