There have been more than 700 crashes so far this year involving road crews, police officers and other workers stopped on the side of the road, Ohio Department of Transportation spokesperson Matt Bruning told The Dispatch on Oct. 15.
A total of 93 people have died or been seriously injured in those crashes, Bruning said.
Of the 730 crashes recorded through mid-October 2026, 75 of them have involved ODOT crews, vehicles and equipment, and 11 crashes have involved Ohio State Highway Patrol officers, according to a news release from the American Automobile Association, or AAA.
Crashes involving roadside workers, dubbed "Move Over Crashes," spiked in 2025 with a total 903 crashes after numbers declined from 2022 through 2024, Bruning said.
"We would
like to see it continue to go down, and then last year kind of reversed that trend," he said.
Ohio's "Move Over, Slow Down" law requires drivers to move over into a different lane, or if that is not possible, to slow down when approaching any stationary vehicle with flashing lights on the side of the road. This law applies to emergency vehicles, road service vehicles, waste collection vehicles, Public Utilities Commission of Ohio vehicles, highway maintenance vehicles and other public safety vehicles.
The law does not apply to a normal driver on the side of the road with their hazards on.
All 50 states have some version of a Move Over, Slow Down law.
ODOT crews get hit most often when they're doing roadside maintenance, mowing grass or flagging traffic, according to Bruning. In fact, Bruning said he doesn't know an ODOT worker who doesn't have at least a close call story.
"To me, that's unacceptable. It's not a big ask by these men and women on the side of the road to have you pay attention to them and give them some space to work safely," he said.
A recent national study by AAA found that more than 90% of U.S. drivers reported slowing down or moving over when approaching a vehicle on the side of the road, but only 64% of drivers actually did move over or slow down. Over a third of drivers, 36%, did nothing, according to the AAA study.
Transportation and neighborhoods reporter Nathan Hart can be reached at NHart@dispatch.com, @NathanRHart on X and nathanhart.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: There have been over 700 Ohio crashes involving roadside vehicles in 2026
