Michigan: Move over for tow drivers, too
The law is not new, but an accident two weeks ago was a reminder to Battle Creek towing company owner Randy Hammer.
“It is an ongoing problem and a scenario that in the nation every four to six days a wrecker driver is killed by a car not moving over,” he said.
It was the same scenario that almost killed the 50-year-old Hammer two years ago.
On Oct. 15 Freddie Scroggs, 25, of Westland, was killed when an SUV struck him while he was changing a tire for a motorist. Drivers from around the state wore black armbands in his memory and Hammer, who owns Tiger’s and Hammer’s towing in Battle Creek, said the accident was another reminder about the dangers of his profession.
“It’s not a new problem,” he said, but the accident means it's time to renew awareness of Michigan’s Move Over Law. Originally implemented in 2001 to require motorists to slow and move to another lane when passing emergency vehicles, wreckers were included in a 2004 amendment.
But Hammer said even now many motorists don’t follow the law and they jeopardize lives of wrecker drivers as well as police officers, firefighters and paramedics.
Hammer spent six hours on the operating table the first night and 2½ weeks in intensive care after he was hit at dusk Nov. 26, 2013, as he was attempting to pull a car from the ditch at an on-ramp from Helmer Road to I-94.
“I saw the car coming down the ramp and I could see it didn’t have all its bearings. I stopped to see what was going on with them but I had nowhere to go. She ran over the road flares and hit me and drove me into the wrecker.”
Emergency workers used a crow bar to free his foot from between two wheels after Hammer called 911 himself.
He had fractures in his back, pelvis, arm and leg and his ankle was crushed. Doctors nearly decided to amputate his leg.
Doctors used pins, rods and screws to rebuild the broken bones and Hammer still wears special shoes and has one leg shorter than the other.
Today Hammer suffers from severe pain and likely will remain on medication for the rest of his life. He suffers from post-traumatic trauma, including nightmares, and continues physical therapy and counseling.
It was not unlike an accident on Jan. 14, 2009, when Vic Potter of Marshall and of Bud’s Wrecker Service was hit on I-69 while assisting at an earlier accident. Potter spend a week in an induced coma and months in the hospital and at a long-term recovery facility. He also remains in constant pain.
Hammer said the law requires drivers to move to an open lane or, if that's not possible, at least slow down when approaching emergency vehicles with emergency lights activated.
The law applies to police, fire, rescue, ambulance and road service vehicles, including wreckers, but he said “tow operators don’t get the same respect as others.”
He believes inattention, even more than speed, is the biggest contributing factor to accidents like his.
“It is one thing if we were not able to be seen but I was wearing this,” he said, pointing to his lime-green reflective vest and recalling his accident. “There was no reason for her not to see me and the five flares burning.
“She didn’t slow down enough and there was inattention and not concentrating or anticipating,” Hammer said.
Drivers need to be attentive to the road, especially as winter approaches and even more wrecker drivers will be on the highways.
“I don’t know what else to say than to slow down when they see flashing lights and be a little more courteous. It is common sense to slow down when they need to,” Hammer said.
Hammer, who has been in the wrecker business since 1971, has returned to working the road and has a new truck arriving in a week, which he uses for larger accidents, especially involving semis.
He won’t work underneath the truck he had the day of the accident and his attitude has changed since he was hurt.
“It has made me more skittish but I can’t be more aware,” he said. “You have to pay attention and focus on what you have to do and everyone else around you. But I am a proven fact that that is impossible. You just don’t have control over someone else’s actions.”
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