Death on Highway 401 underscores importance of slowing down and moving over

Drivers must slow down and move over when they see a tow truck at the side of the road. But many still aren’t getting the message. CTV’s Colton Wiens more.

Tow truck drivers said a death along Highway 401 this week is a stark reminder of why drivers are required to slow down and give emergency vehicles space.

A 42-year-old tow truck driver from Kitchener was helping a stranded driver on Wednesday morning when he was killed in a hit-and-run. CAA has confirmed the driver was worked within their network.

“A lot of people don’t even realize what’s going on when they’re driving down the road if they see a vehicle on the side,” Al Pinheiro, towing manager at Active Towing, said. “I think most of them are just oblivious to what’s going on around them when they’re on the highway.”

Pinheiro didn’t know the man who was killed on Wednesday, but he said working at the side of the highway can be a harrowing experience.

“We’ve been parked in front of a police car with them having their lights on, us having our lights on, picking up a vehicle. And [drivers] whiz by. The public is oblivious to that law and to what is going on around them,” Pinheiro said.

By law, drivers in Ontario must slow down and move over a lane, if it is safe to do so, when they are approaching an emergency vehicle with its lights flashing.

Pinheiro said one challenge tow truck operators face on the highway is that there isn’t a lot of space to safely work away from live lanes of traffic.

“There’s really no buffer for us. Unless every time we pick up a hot car on the highway we get a blocker truck. That only happens very rarely,” Pinheiro said.

Pinheiro said about half of the time when tow truck operators are working on the highway, the operator is on the side of the tow truck closest to the live lanes.

“You kind of put aside what’s going on around you, but you’re still aware that it’s there. But if you go out there and you think of every time you’re out there could be your last time, it’s going to weigh on you and you’re not going to want to do this job,” Pinheiro said.

Tow truck troubles

While many driver do give police vehicle, fire trucks and ambulances space, CAA tells CTV News that’s less common for tow trucks.

“What we’ve seen is it’s not as high as it is for other emergency services,” Teresa Di Felice, assistant vice president of government community relations for CAA, said.

Drivers that don’t obey the law could face a fine of $400 to $2,000, three demerit points and could have their license suspended.

“There is a narrow shoulder. You’re dealing with hooking up a car or addressing a particular incident and those speeds, even, giving that space, you feel the wind of highway speed vehicles going past you,” Di Felice said.

While the move over and slow down law does not set a specific speed that drivers must slow down to, they still must slow down significantly.

“Recognizing that there’s a flow of traffic and you need to manage the flow of traffic. But obviously 100 km/h

speeding past someone who is working on the side of the road isn’t safe. And so that’s why that the law is to slow your speed and move over safely into the next lane to create that buffer,” Di Felice said.

As for the investigation, police have identified a vehicle and driver of interest but have not released any more updates.