JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man crashed into a JEA utility crew site, and now one of the workers is sharing their story.
This comes as JEA and all first responders remind drivers to pull over when they see them on the side of the road, as January is Move Over Month.
Brandon Barr is a father of two and has worked for JEA for 18 years. He’s a crew leader for water and wastewater construction. When he gets in his truck, he’s ready for what can become a dangerous day on the job.
Last March, his crew was put in danger by an intoxicated driver. Barr remembers it as if it were yesterday.
“It was midday on a Thursday in a neighborhood. We had the road closed. We had all the barricades out, we had a water wall set up, and a drive drove through all of that,” said Brandon Barr, as water and wastewater construction crew leader for JEA.
Barr added, “All of the visible signs crashed into our equipment. His car actually hit the bucket on the excavator. When that happened, he began to drive off, and we followed around, and he crashed on the other side of the job as well.”
Despite several protective barriers, the driver came close to putting their lives in danger. No one was injured.
This is just one of many cases where crew workers or first responders’ lives were being put in danger by drivers.
In December 2024, a 30-year-old man was driving under the influence when he slammed his truck into the back of a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office cruiser that was stopped to help another driver on the Mathews Bridge.
In 2020, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper was hospitalized with serious injuries after a driver hit the trooper’s cruiser in a construction zone.
Moving over is a statewide law that requires motorists to change lanes or slow down significantly when approaching any stopped vehicle with flashing lights, including utility trucks, first responder vehicles, or roadside service vehicles.
For Barr and everyone who works near drivers, he hopes people will slow down and pay attention.
“It would be very helpful for us, all of our families, to just know that we are a little safer each day doing these tasks because we have all the barricades out there with the trucks and lights on, and some are being negligent or not paying attention or on their phone, we can’t avoid that,” said Barr.
Because no distraction is worth someone’s life.
If you are approaching a first responder or crew on the side of the road.
- Move over into an alternate lane when passing a utility truck, but only when it is safe to do so.
- If you cannot change lanes safely, or if you are on a two-lane road, reduce your speed to 20 mph below the posted speed limit.
- Failure to move over could result in fines, court fees and points on your license