Tow truck drivers in New Brunswick say they want the province to include them as emergency vehicles so drivers will be required to move over and slow down as they approach their vehicles on the highway.
Members of the New Brunswick Towing and Recovery Group met with officials from the Department of Justice and Public Safety to discuss changes to the Motor Vehicle Act that would add tow trucks and service vehicles to the province’s list of emergency vehicles that drivers must slow down and move over for.
Andrew Aker of Capital Towing and Vernon Bishop of Vernon Bishop Towing met with department officials Wednesday afternoon.
“A safety situation on the side of the road is never ideal,” Aker said.
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Aker says there are often extremely close calls on the road and said one happened as recently as Tuesday evening.
“We had a gentleman injured the other night or bruised by a mirror on a vehicle. He’s alright today but it brought home the seriousness and the danger of being on the side of the road and only inches away from us being at a funeral here today,” Aker said.
He said the driver is back to work now but said he’s thankful to be alive.
“We certainly appreciate his commitment to his job and hope that we can work toward increasing the safety margin a little bit so we don’t face this again,” said Aker.
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Bishop said tow truck drivers also respond to emergencies but aren’t included in the same legislation as emergency vehicles. He said it’s important they be recognized as part of the emergency situation.
Bishop said he’s glad the department is willing to listen to their concerns.
“We can’t really expect anything overnight but at the same time if and when we meet and everybody around the table understands where we’re coming from… we’re hoping that we’ll get resolved on some of the issues,” Bishop said.
He said they would also like to see the province amend the Motor Vehicle Act to allow tow trucks to have blue lights on top so they stand-out more on the road.
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In an email sent to Global News by Department of Justice and Public Safety communications director Robert Duguay, he said that while tow trucks are not included in the definition of an authorized emergency vehicle, they are aware of the concerns of the industry and what other jurisdictions have done.
Duguay said they intend to pursue dialogue with the tow truck industry about changes and says the issues are under consideration by the department.
Aker said while the majority of people are good at pulling over and slowing down, he said it’s a message that some people still need to hear.
“It’s probably more of an education situation and an awareness situation than it is something that can be fixed by legislation,” Aker said.
CAA Atlantic vice-president of Marketing and Communications, Gary Howard, said most provinces in the country have tow trucks included in their ‘Slow Down, Move Over’ legislation except for New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
Howard said they’re trying to lobby government to get that legislation to include tow trucks in New Brunswick.
“Part of it isn’t just the law, it’s just good, common sense and good courtesy in driving, especially in the winter time. I mean all year round, but in the winter we even have less room to work so again that includes towing, police, fire, ambulance, that’s their work space,” Howard said.
He said public education is a big focus and said people need to understand the danger of driving by any kind of emergency vehicle when they’re stopped on the side of the road.
“If you’re a passenger just tell the driver that you’re with to just use good common courtesy and do the right thing and move over,” Howard said.
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