Tow truck drivers in Saskatchewan are hoping for a change in legislation that they say could make them more recognizable on the road.
The Roadside Responders Association of Saskatchewan is meeting with officials in May to discuss changing their emergency lights from orange, to red and orange.
“We’re hoping that the red and orange would indicate that the tow truck is parked, stationed, doing a recovery or doing a hookup, and that you need to slow to sixty,” association director Brad Stratychuk said.
“Over North America, there’s more tow truck drivers killed on the job than policeman and firemen combined.”
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When emergency vehicles are on the side of the road with their lights activated, drivers are supposed to slow down to sixty kilometres an hour.
The rule isn’t always followed.
“There’s so many orange lights now that the general motoring public have become complacent with them,” Stratychuk said.
“They’re such an everyday occurrence that when people see them they don’t often slow down.”
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If drivers are caught speeding over the sixty kilometre limit when passing emergency vehicles, they can face stiff fines.
“Fines start at about a hundred and forty dollars, and then there’s a rate,” Shannon Ell, SGI’s director of traffic safety promotion, said.
“If you continue driving at a hundred kilometres an hour when you’re passing an emergency worker, you can face a three-hundred dollar ticket.”
The change to emergency lighting will have to be made in the Traffic Act.
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