The Central Georgian

Comments or Questions?
E- Mail us at The Central Georgian

.

Tow truck drivers face danger with little recognition

By ROCKY SALMON
The (Riverside, Calif.) Press-Enterprise

With the summer driving season at its peak, tow truck company owner Mark Yarbrough is holding his breath every time one of his drivers has to help a stranded motorist.

"In this business, accidents can happen to anyone at anytime," the Perris business owner said. "One minute you could be hooking up a car and the next, you are being dragged down the freeway."

Tow truck drivers may be called for a variety of potentially dangerous missions -- from fixing a flat tire to cleaning up an accident scene. And owners like Yarbrough have joined a national campaign to implement stricter training standards and more recognition for those who lose their lives.

The California Highway Patrol does not keep statistics on tow truck accidents and fatalities but the Tow Truck Association of America estimates that at least 60 operators are killed nationally each year. It's equal to the number of police and paramedics killed along our roadsides, said Mike Scott, safety director and researcher for the association.

He wants the CHP to keep a separate count of tow truck driver fatalities, but for now they count only as pedestrian deaths.

"It's time for a federal standard because we continue to lose too many fine people," Scott said. "With more and more cars on the roads, it's only a matter of time before those numbers rise."

Dangers of Towing

Yarbrough's tow-truck-driving son, Kenny Yarbrough, was working on a stalled car on the shoulder of Interstate 215 when he learned how dangerous towing can be.

"The sound wall (near the Fourth Avenue exit) is so close to the shoulder you don't have anywhere to maneuver," he said. "Drivers hate this area."

A CHP cruiser, with its lights flashing, was a few yards behind the truck. But as the 24-year-old worked the controls of his truck along the freeway he heard the CHP officer yell.

"I jumped onto my truck and a car scraped my truck right where I had been standing," he said.

Yarbrough was one of the lucky ones in the Inland area.

No local agency keeps statistics on Inland area fatalities but at least two tow truck drivers have died since 1993, according to newspaper archives.

One was Jerry Pineiro, a Stagecoach Towing operator in 1998. He was hit while helping a disabled vehicle off I-10 near Cabazon.

"I would classify Jerry as one of the safest, most responsible drivers you could have in the business," said Duane Hussey, safety director at Stagecoach Towing. "All it took was for a drunk to come through and take him out. You hear about these things happening all the time."

Yarbrough said the perils of the business are obvious from his worker's compensation insurance bills, which are nearly $10,000 a month.

"That's $5,000 more than what we spend on gas a month," he said from his Perris tow yard.

Tow truck drivers said motorists don't realize how quickly an accident happens.

"I can give you horror stories where a tow truck operator pulls up and in less than 30 seconds a car has slipped off the road and hit the driver and the motorist," Scott said. "We aren't NASCAR. It takes us as least 10 minutes to change a tire."

Operators say that when a car breaks down motorists should put safety first.

"When people get a flat tire they pull over and stop as soon as they can," said Peter Furst, chairman of the Northern California division of the International Institution of Towing and Trucking. "They don't realize that we need room to work and they should get over as far as possible. What's more important? Your tire or someone's life?"

Tow truck associations also want more recognition for drivers who die on the job. Last year a memorial was built at the International Towing and Recovery Museum in Chattanooga, Tenn., and a fund has been started to raise $500,000 for their families.

"When an officer is hit, it's well publicized," said Furst. "When it's a tow truck driver, it just might be a little blurb for one day. Then people forget about it."

A Need for Training

Like many drivers, Jeannie Andrade learned to operate a tow truck by trial and error. Now she thinks more training should be available.

The 34-year-old owner of Temecula's Xpress Towing was winching a car onto her truck along a busy freeway when disaster almost struck.

"I must have been too close to the lines because I could feel the semi [as it passed by]," she said. "I got chills and thought, 'Oh my God.' "

California has one of the strictest programs, Scott said. But only drivers who work with the CHP need to pass a course and earn an operator's certificate.

"It's a potluck whether a driver has training or not," Furst said. "You got guys in this industry who freely admit they have no training."

But training programs are not universally accepted by towing companies.

"Some of these guys have done this their whole lives," Scott said. "They don't want anyone telling them what to do. They want to be grandfathered in."

Last year, a "move-over" bill written by an operator in northern California was passed into California law.

It calls for motorists to slow down and move over when they see emergency personnel, including a tow-truck driver, working on the side of the freeway. A similar law has passed in 37 states, where fewer accidents have since been reported, Scott said.

The towing industry is also working on a safety training video to be sent to all tow truck agencies. It will offer tips and reminders that operators should handle controls from the passenger side of their truck, not along the side closest to freeway traffic.

Tow companies that have suffered losses continue to emphasize safety with training courses and mandatory safety meetings.

At Hamner Towing in Corona, which lost a driver in 1995, operators gather monthly for a safety meeting.

"We have had our share of problems," said Steve Gates, company manager. "In most cases, the person was in the wrong spot at the wrong time."

Motorist Tips

Tow truck officials say most of the 60 deaths a year reported nationwide could be eliminated if freeway motorists follow basic rules:

Slow down or move as far away from the tow truck as possible.

If no one is injured in an accident move the cars onto the shoulder.

If you break down, move over as far right as you can go.

If you can, drive your vehicle off the freeway.

Don't take your eyes off the road.

Source: Towing and Recovery Association of America

The Central Georgian, 2007,  Disclaimer..