Rant from a Tow Truck Driver

I always get over if the lane is clear...but if I can't get over, please know that I am watching closely and am over as far as I can get without forcing the vehicle(s) in the left lane into the ditch.

 

there is no excuse for flying by tow guys or any other people on the side of the highway, if you can't move over, use one of the other peddles and slow down

 

I always move over if it's possible...Sometimes I get stuck in the right lane because a car or another truck don't see or care that there's an obstruction in the lane ahead.

 

Go to a truck stop, preferably a Pilot, and whach what goes in and out the door for about an hour. You will have your answer as to why drivers have no courtsey.

 

Many times I have been on the highway at the scene of an accident. I have not really been concerned with the trucks as much as the impatient 4 wheeler. I have been almost clipped several times by them and them blowing horns when they go by and flipping us off.

 

The problem is those same 4 wheelers that flipped you off have lost their jobs, and joined the wonderful world of trucking.

 

Doubt it.

It still happens now.

I know that they are bad, but we really need to also consider how the 4 wheeler adds to it.

Many trucks turn the blinker on and if you watch, the 4 wheeler speeds up to cut them off. It is hard for the truck to even try to get over. Especially in the Dallas area. I moved over to the left down there and was promptly passed by many cars and one local dump driver who blew past the tow truck.

 

I don't see too many 18-wheelers in the far left lane. Usually, I leave that one alone unless I have to get off on a left exit or it's one of two lanes and I am there for a reason. I will try to move over if at all possible.

I understand you are doing a necessary job and I have worked with numerous tow-truck drivers in my career as a firefighter/EMT. However, there are times, even then, when I had to ask the tow-truck driver, "what the ***???" because he was way out in the travel lane of a single lane in each direction highway. A few times, the attitude was, "*** 'em. They can wait." If there was no other way to get the disabled vehicle loaded, we would set up traffic cones or flares for him...sometimes even stand there with signs and direct traffic so he could pull the third speed-car that week out of Squaw Creek after the drunk idiot driving it landed it there on its side. But I digress.

Tow truck drivers could help us out a bit by being as far away from the travel lane as possible (yes, I know you have to line up just right...but that flatbed is pretty wide and you have a long winch cable to work with) and by being aware of what traffic is doing. Grow that "third eye" so to speak. There are times, even in light traffic, when a truck cannot get over because the moron beside him or her simply will not move.

Often, you are in a bad place because the dingleberry driving the car you are picking up didn't think about that when they picked a place to stop. We aren't necessarily going to see you until the last second. Perhaps taking the time to set cones up about a hundred feet behind where you are working will help....Most times, tow-truck operators set their cones up about 15 feet behind the car they are picking up. That's really not a lot of notice.

For the most part, in spite of all the bluster, we do the best we can to avoid collisions. The insurance is too expensive and I, for one, would have a very hard time with that on my conscience.