Paul Kengor: Slow down and move over for tow-truck drivers

“How many tows have you done today?” I asked the guy rigging up my vehicle. “Three so far,” he said. “More to come.”

“How late is your shift?” I followed. “Midnight,” he replied. “I like the shift, but my wife hates it. She really worries about my safety. It’s a very dangerous job.”

I needed no convincing of that. I shudder in horror when I see guys like him on the side of the highway rigging up a tow, often lying on their backs on the pavement, while cars whiz by without changing their excessive rate of speed or bothering to move over. I told him I often see cars oddly draw closer to the tow truck, as if they’re trying to get a look or are just oblivious to the hazard they’re creating.

“It’s insane,” I said to him. “I see it constantly.”

“Tell me about it,” he replied. He proceeded to recall some of the worst close calls he has experienced. Just a week prior, a tour bus came within 2 feet of him at 75 miles per hour in pouring rain.

That example struck me as especially awful, given that bus drivers are professionals. You would expect them to have a keen understanding of highway hazards. But that particular bus driver behaved like everyone else who doesn’t slow down and move over.

“Why do they do that?” I asked. “Maybe they’re just unaware of what they’re doing or don’t care. They treat you guys like you’re not human. Like you’re a mile marker.”

He said that cluelessness and “sheer stupidity” was his theory. A couple days prior, he had thrown his gloves at an SUV that brushed him. The driver stopped, backed up and asked why he had done that. The tow guy explained that he had nearly hit him. The driver offered a blank stare. He felt he hadn’t done anything wrong. He had merely continued to fly down the highway. No change in behavior. It never occurred to him to decrease his speed.

My tow driver recited for me chapter and verse what he called “slow-down-and-move-over laws.” I didn’t know such laws existed. He knew exactly which states had such laws and the penalties for breaking them; that is, if police catch the violator in the act and chase him down. Of course, for the cop, that would require pulling over pretty much every car blowing by the towtruck operator. An impossible task.

My guy told me he has no hope this behavior will change. As for his wife, she lives in fear every night of a dread call informing her that her husband has been hit and killed. She’s especially on edge during snowstorms and freezing rain, when he’s even busier and passing vehicles are even more dangerous.

I told him I write columns for the Tribune-Review and I would consider writing about what guys in his profession deal with daily.

“Please write about it,” he said. “Please tell people.”

Unfortunately, I doubt I’ll make a difference. People are oblivious to their recklessness. Most people deem themselves great drivers.

In the meantime, the best policy for towtruck drivers is to be on defense, constantly vigilant, never a fatal move. I wished my driver a good evening, prayers and told him to be careful. Others might want to consider the same.