Tow truck drivers risk life and limb to help those in need on roads and highways. They are, after all, part of the first responder team at car accident scenes, responding to distress calls and driving to service destinations to promote road safety.
While stationary in the middle of the road, however, tow trucks are vulnerable. Even with the presence of road safety features, such as towing lights and warning signs, some drivers still fail to behave responsibly; they go over the speed limit and disobey other traffic regulations.
The situation has led to injuries and fatalities being common among tow truck drivers. In fact, the Department of Labor records 852 driver fatalities in 2016 alone.
Americans Fail to Observe the Current Move Over Law
The Move Over Law requires motorists to provide safe clearance to law enforcement officers, ambulances, firefighters, and other emergency vehicles, including tow trucks. While the rules vary from state to state, the law mandates the following:
- Drivers need to slow down and safely move over once they see vests, lights, and reflectors.
- Drivers need to exercise extreme caution when approaching vehicles with their hazard signs on, such as ambulances, tow trucks, police cars, fire trucks, and more.
- Drivers need to observe the law on both sides of the roadway.
Even though the law is in effect in forty-three US states, 70% of Americans don’t know that it exists. Meanwhile, many of the drivers that do know choose to disregard it. The deliberate disobedience could be deadly for first responders, tow truck drivers included. Data shows that every week, at least one tow truck driver is hit or killed because of motorists who do not take the Move Over law seriously.
What Can Be Done?
Increased Tow Truck and Driver Visibility
The lighting requirement for tow trucks include headlights, taillights, brake lights, turn signals, side markers, front and rear clearance, back up lights. Tow truck drivers argue, however, that the flashing lights on their vehicles do not offer enough visibility.
Operators are pushing for a change in the way they alert motorists about their presence on the road. With several distractions such as construction lights, street lights, and turn signals on the road, tow truck lights are not as eye-catching as they should be.
Tow Mart provides an extra line of defense for your truck with our wireless towing lights. Our lighting solutions will improve your line-of-sight for better road visibility.
Increased Awareness of Rules and Regulations
While our products take care of things on the tow truck driver’s end, safety campaigns are raising awareness on tow truck accident prevention. Highway billboards and signages are, for instance, helping educate the public about the laws and how vulnerable first responders are when on the highway. Some states, on the other hand, are pushing for harsher penalties for violators of the law.
As road safety campaigns become more popular, however, there has been some progress in distracted drivers and in reminding people to be extra careful when behind the wheel.
Contact us today to learn more.
