Leave 'em room

Terry Schmitt has worked for 27 years as a Department of Transportation maintenance person in Goodhue County.

In that time, he has seen a number of near misses between motorists and a stopped maintenance vehicle; and a couple of hits, including one that severely injured two coworkers.

He spoke to the House Transportation Finance Division March 7 in support of a bill that would require motorists to move to the far left of a roadway when approaching road maintenance or construction vehicles if it is safe to change lanes. The bill would also include the Freeway Incident Response Safety Team vehicles in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, formerly known as Highway Helpers.

Sponsored by Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R-Wabasha), HF2970 was approved by the division and referred to the House Public Safety and Civil Justice Committee.

“We find ourselves in a position of being the first ones on the scene that a state patrol officer would find themselves in. It could be a stranded motorist or somebody that has a flat tire. We have cases when we’re plowing snow where we’ve come across accidents or other stranded motorists that might be partially on a road or around a curve or in some other position that could endanger them. We’ll stop with our lights flashing, call the state patrol, and wait until they get there,” Schmitt said. “We’re trying to protect our own workers. … We’d like a little more bite to get the traffic to move over and give us a little more room to work.”

Joe Huneke, a transportation maintenance worker for 19 years, thinks the law passed for the state patrol is a great idea. “I just thought it was missing in one aspect of having maintenance workers also.”

A ticket can be issued if an officer has probable cause to believe the driver has violated the law. The citation can be issued within four hours if the incident.

A companion bill, SF2810, sponsored by Sen. Steve Murphy (DFL-Red Wing), awaits action by the Senate Transportation Committee.