Many jobs are hazardous, including driving a tow truck. Now, Columbus police and local tow companies want to reduce roadside hazards for tow truck operators with more enforcement of 'move over' laws. For decades, James and Jack Carpenter both drove tow trucks around Columbus. Now, 54 year old James is mourning the loss of his older brother. Jack Carpenter was killed on the job last month while hooking a car on the far south side. "It's hard, especially for my mom, she can't sleep at night," says James Carpenter. Jack Carpenter is one of 21 tow truck drivers killed this year while on the job. James Carpenter says hazards for tow truck operators come quickly when some drivers are going up to 70 miles per hour past damaged or disabled vehicles. "Like I said, you've got your lights on, your safety vest, people just ignore it, just don't pay any attention," says Carpenter.
Columbus Police Sergeant Michael Smith says speed and impaired driving are the most common causes of injury or fatal accidents involving tow truck drivers. He adds, too many times, drivers ignore existing laws that could help reduce accidents. Smith reminds that Ohio's 'Move Over' law applies to tow trucks as well as police and fire vehicles. "Tow trucks with operating yellow light they are just as much a public vehicle as we are," says Smith. Trouble is, according to Vaughn Gobel at the Towing and Recovery Association of Ohio, drivers who fail to evade or move over from highway or roadside crash scenes are rarely ticketed by law enforcement. "The lack of the police cruisers there, so we could be working something, the cruiser's there, we see the violation but he can't leave the scene to go citate the person that just violated that 'move over' law because he's tied up," says Gobel.
Sergeant Smith says police have heard the complaints from tow operators. Smith says this year police will use part of a $320-000 federal grant to boost enforcement of 'move-over' laws. "We'll have the officers out and about on the freeways and anywhere within the city who are there to address specific traffic enforcement problems. This being one of them, so we can assign them to work with tow trucks or our freeway service patrol and if we see the violation we can take the appropriate action," says Smith. Vaughn says in some cases, tow truck drivers choose to wait for police help for traffic control before getting out of their trucks to clear an accident scene on a busy highway. He says that can cause traffic back-ups but tow operators stay safe.