A tow truck operator suffered a concussion last weekend when a driver didn't slow down or move to the other lane, resulting in Mid-Island Towing reaching out to the public.
The incident occurred Saturday, Sept. 6, at about 2 p.m. southbound on the Island Highway at the Dunster Road overpass.
"He was in the process of getting ready to hook up a broken-down van. While he was on the straightaway, there's lots of visibility on the straight stretch, north and south, lots of visibility, had his safety gear on, and his emergency lights on, and felt like he was in a safe position as far as dealing with the customer's vehicle," said Mike Oldfield, Mid-Island Towing general manager.
What happened next, Oldfield said, is an older-model black Mazda or Hyundai sedan, rather than follow provincial law requiring the driver to slow down and move to the far lane, passed the truck "close enough to the point where he thought he was going to be struck."
"He jumped out of the way onto the flat deck of his truck, and in the process as he was doing that, he slipped as he was jumping up quickly and he hit the back of his head on the steel deck."
Anyone with any information about the incident is asked to call the Nanaimo RCMP non-emergency line at 350-754-2345 and reference file No. 2025-29222, or call Oldfield at 250-758-1728.
In B.C., all drivers are required to follow the provincial 'slow down, move over' rule which dictates they are to slow down and move over for all vehicles stopped alongside the road that have flashing red, blue or yellow lights. Speed is required to be reduced to 70 kilometres per hour when the speed limit is 80km/h or above, or 40km/h when the speed limit is below 80km/h. If travelling on a multi-lane roadway, drivers must move over to the far lane where safe to do so. The penalty for failing to do so is a $173 traffic violation ticket and three penalty points.
Oldfield said drivers not slowing down has been a recurring problem for the workers and "it's unfortunate" that they have to repeat asking drivers not to speed by.
"It shouldn't take somebody getting hurt to think twice about moving over," he said.
A Facebook post detailing the incident had more than 500 shares as of Thursday, Sept. 11.
