Shaun de Jager, Founder of RoadAwareness.org and tow truck driver for CAA, blogs about the crazy, weird, and downright scary things he sees on our roads.

Sometimes you just don’t want to get out of bed and over the last couple weeks, I’ve had many days like that. Not because it’s been cold or because I didn’t want to do anything but because I haven’t been able to move much. But despite the pain of having a couple cracked ribs, I know that I’m lucky to be alive.

A couple weeks ago, near the end of my shift, I got a call to rescue a motorist stranded on the side of the highway. When I arrived, I was pleased to see that I had a huge shoulder to work on… nice and wide giving me the largest safety margin to work in that I’ve had in a long time. I got the side of my truck up against the barrier leaving me nearly five feet on the other side to work in. Now conditions weren’t great so I still had on my beacon lights, safety vest and traffic cones deployed like I’m supposed too. They are supposed to make me more visible and help keep me safe but sometimes I have to wonder if it just causes a visual distraction for drivers and causes ‘target fixation’. Although with so much space to work, this was one of the safest pick-ups I’ve had to do.

Most traffic kept their distance from the shoulder and as usual and the trucks all moved over into the middle lane, which of course everyone should be doing by-law regardless of what you drive. Slow down and if possible move over. Not everyone does either because they don’t know that rule or they simply don’t care. Some drivers tend to veer a bit towards you though thanks to ‘target fixation’. If you stare at something on the side of the road, there will be a natural tendency to move towards it.

Generally speaking, I never trust drivers to do the right thing and when picking up a vehicle on the highway, I trust them even less. So with that in mind I always try and keep an eye on the oncoming traffic in case someone gets too close. Unfortunately, I still have to look at what I’m doing so that I can secure the car properly, ensuring that it doesn’t fall off. Considering my flatbed was slippery from a fine layer of ice and snow, I wanted to be certain that it was secured properly. It was in one of these moments, when I had to look at my hands, that all hell broke loose. I had just finished loading the car and was securing my last strap when I heard a slight rumbling sound and when I looked up I saw a car coming straight at me. I jumped and pressed my body against the side of my truck as the headlights came at me. I had barely a second to react and get out of the way. Headlights, jump, thud, tail lights. I held onto the side of the truck to steady myself and watched the car continue on the shoulder, which nearly hit a bridge a few hundred metres away. The driver didn’t even stop to see what happened (maybe he/she was drunk?). Then the pain hit me. I had just been struck by the side mirror of this car that swerved about four feet onto the shoulder. The fellow I was rescuing ran over to seed if I was ok.

I finished the call and dropped off this fellow and his car off where he needed to go but he had to help me unload. I couldn’t lift my right arm and the pain in my side and ribs was really getting bad. I was pretty sure I had broken them. I’ve had broken ribs before and this felt much the same. Moving was becoming very painful and so was breathing. I tend to have a high pain threshold for some things and since I’d had this before when I crashed a motorbike while offroading I was certain what was wrong. I went home to sleep it off and see how I felt in a few hours. The morning came around and I was pretty rough but since I didn’t have any blood in my urine, indicating damage to my kidney’s, I spent a few days in bed moving as little as possible. Yes yes…I could have called 911 and gone to the hospital but I knew what was wrong and the idea of sitting upright in the ER waiting room was that last thing I wanted to do. I knew from previous experiences what to look for and all they would do is send me home. A few days later I was able to move enough to get myself to a walk-in clinic and I was pretty much right… two cracked ribs and I was advised from that point to not work for at least 10 days.

I’m starting to feel a bit better at this point but I still see those headlights coming at me sometimes at night. I know that had I not reacted as quickly as I did or if the car came just four inches closer, I may not be here to even share this tale. Drive safe everyone and pay attention. Lives depend on it.

Tow to Tow with Drivers: I Got Clipped originally appeared on AOL Autos Canada on Sun, 26 Dec 2010 09:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Winter Driving

Shaun de Jager, Founder of RoadAwareness.org and tow truck driver for CAA, blogs about the crazy, weird, and downright scary things he sees on our roads.

It was a reasonably good night for me in that I didn’t have any especially difficult calls to deal with or unruly traffic to test my patience but others weren’t so fortunate. Traffic was indeed hellish across the city but I only had to deal with it for a short section.

I logged in at 3pm and within 30 minutes I got my first call, which was up in Brampton. Not exactly nearby but that’s ok. Eventually I found myself heading north on the 410 and just as I approached Steeles a high priority call came in that I was asked to deal first since this fellow was stranded on the highway. I stopped on the shoulder to check the details of the call and it was on the very same highway I was on, heading in the same direction and apparently just one kilometre north of me. So onward I went but nothing. I called the client and found out he was actually two kilometres south of me when I first got the call! Sigh…ok, turn around, head south and double back to below where he was and head north again. Traffic was flowing nicely so it really didn’t take all that long for me to find the stranded motorist that I was looking for. Although while loading his truck on my flatbed, we observed no less than six police cruisers flying northbound past us. Umm…well something interesting was going on ahead and it didn’t take long to figure it out.

Right at Steeles, right where I had pulled over not 20 minutes earlier, a tractor-trailer rolled over into the ditch on the southbound ramp. Whatever he was hauling never escaped the confines of his trailer but his cab was messed up badly and if the driver escaped without some injuries, I would be surprised. Traffic slowed to an instant crawl in both directions as the southbound traffic not only dealt with some lane closures but also quite the visual distraction. Of course northbound traffic came to a crawl too as everyone gazed at the wreckage. I couldn’t help but take a moment to take a picture as I waited, dead stopped for nearly a minute, as traffic ahead of me was sorting itself out. I didn’t even have to look at the crash to snap a pic…I just pointed the camera out my window, kept pressing the button while I watched the cars ahead of me. I didn’t think I actually got a pic of the truck at all until I checked later. It was many hours before the mess was cleaned up but luckily I didn’t have to travel that stretch of highway again all night.

Once I finally finished with this call, I returned my attention to the first call who was apparently still waiting for a tow. I was still the only driver in the area so I headed off to pick him up from his parking lot. By the time I arrived at 5p.m., he had been waiting for four hours! Huh? I got his call originally at 3:30p.m. and nobody had been able to pick him up yet? Yikes. Luckily he was a great guy and we got along well.

Later in the evening I was called to go pick up a Harley Davidson that supposedly wouldn’t start. Well that wasn’t terribly surprising since it was -10 degrees Celsius at this point. Turns out it was a friend of mine who had just bought the bike used and wanted it transported home. The only problem was that the bike was too heavy for my comfort level considering the little straps I was provided with. Another flatbed driver may have taken the bike using their puny straps but I told Adrian it wasn’t worth the risk. I gave my old boss Rod a call from MotoLimo.com to come and get the bike to make sure it was handled properly.

I would have loved to hang around and catch up with Adrian a bit more but I got another call right away – Some Mercedes Benz with a broken suspension. When I arrived I was greeted by a father and his son and it took about two seconds to guess what happened. “So who hit the curb?” I asked and sheepishly the young man raised his hand. He was a new driver and had his first encounter with driving in the snow. It took some time to get the car loaded and while I worked in what was becoming a very cold night with the windchill factor, I took the opportunity to refer both father and son to the ILR Winter Car Control School that I will be instructing at in a couple months. He obviously didn’t have the required skill for winter driving and he had better learn fast before something worse happens. This time he got lucky.

By the end of the night I had responded to seven calls. Some were easier than the others – the easiest being a battery boost and the toughest being the Benz with the busted suspension – and seeing that truck rolled over into the ditch was a stern reminder of what happens if you take a ramp too quickly. Drive safely people. Our roads aren’t forgiving but sometimes people just get lucky.

Tow to Tow with Drivers: Bitter Sweet Night and Bitter Cold originally appeared on AOL Autos Canada on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 11:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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