Move Over for utility workers in Tennessee. It's the law.
When utility service equipment/vehicles are properly marked and parked on the side of the road - motorists are required to either slow down or move over.
No matter how careful the practices of individual workers and crews, some things are outside of their control. Often a utility employee's workplace is the side of a busy roadway, and that makes an already dangerous job even more hazardous.
When Gov. Bill Haslam signed Public Chapter 40 into law on April 5, that workspace got quite a bit safer. Tennessee's "move-over" law had already created a safety zone to protect police, firefighters and other emergency personnel. This revision expands the existing law by adding utility service equipment to the list of vehicles for which - when they're properly marked and parked on the side of the road - motorists are required to either slow down or move over. Tennessee's law also already covers highway maintenance vehicles and stationary recovery vehicles (wreckers).
To warrant move-overs by motorists, utility service vehicles must be stationary and giving a signal by the use of flashing lights. Specifically, drivers must yield the right-of-way by making a lane change into a lane not adjacent to the utility vehicle if on a four-lane highway with two lanes proceeding in the same direction as the approaching vehicle. If changing lanes would be impossible or unsafe, drivers are to proceed with due caution, reducing and maintaining a safe speed for road conditions.
The inconvenience of slowing down a bit is a small price to pay if it makes the difference in ensuring that a worker goes home safely after the end of a hard day at work.
Learn more about the new Move Over law.
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