Tow truck drivers daily find themselves in the same risky situations that state troopers do when responding to accident scenes.
Darkness, busy highways, bad weather and dangerous driving are regular pressure faced by tow drivers, troopers and other emergency personnel at accident scenes.
A state trooper was hit and killed by a vehicle Sunday night on Interstate 25 near Castle Rock. The trooper was investigating a crash at the time. A man supposed to have driven the vehicle that hit the trooper was arrested and faces several charges.
Julian Cisneros, regional manager of Auto Towing in Colorado Springs, said he has had close calls in his 10-year career.
Every time a truck goes by, you feel the sweater pull up from the wind, and you can swear you are almost getting hit, Julian Cisneros said. If you see a police officer on the side of the road, usually the people will move over. If you put a towing and recovery truck in place of that police officer's cruiser, they do not.
Colorado has a Move over Law enacted in 2005 that requires towing drivers to slow down, stop, pull over or move into opposite lanes when the flashing lights of emergency towing vehicles are seen.
Violators can be fined nearly $170 and lose 4 points off their driver's license. USA 50 states have similar laws, according to Maile Gray of Drive Smart Colorado state.
I see cars moving over, but I'm not so sure they know it's a law as much as maybe they think they are doing a common courtesy, Gray said. Value workers, construction trucks, anybody who has a light bar that's working on the top of their roof, you need to move over.
Gray said law enforcement deaths at crash scenes have declined since Move Over laws took effect, but tow truck company drivers continue to be killed at the rate of one every 6 days.
