‘Please help us’: Missouri drivers urged to give roadside emergency workers room

Linda Unruh on Wednesday recalled the phone conversation she had with her son Bobby Unruh, a tow truck driver, just 20 minutes before a tragic crash took his life.

Her son worked for the family’s tow company and he was headed out on a call in February 2017 to help a disabled 18-wheeler.

“I promise you, nobody’s gonna get hurt on my watch,” Unruh said her son told her in the call. Her son honestly thought he would make it home to his three little children.

But another semi hit him on Interstate 40 in New Mexico and he was killed. His death spurred her fight for New Mexico’s Move Over law, which was passed by state legislators 19 days later and named ”Bobby’s Law” in his honor.

Unruh was in Kansas City Wednesday to speak at a press conference to raise awareness of Missouri’s Slow Down Move Over Law in advance of the busy Labor Day Weekend travel period.

She was joined by other tow industry victim advocates as well as officials from the AAA Missouri, the Missouri Department of Transportation and the Missouri Highway Patrol at the Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence.

Kansas City, Columbia and St. Louis were part of a media blitz to spread the message that by following the law, drivers could save a life.

Missouri’s Slow Down Move Over law

In Missouri, drivers are required to change lanes if it’s safe to do so when they approach an incident where tow truck drivers, firefighters, law enforcement officers, emergency medical workers, MoDOT workers or other emergency vehicles are stopped on the side of the road with their lights flashing, said Nick Chabaria, a spokesman for AAA Missouri.

If drivers can’t change lanes, they must slow down to pass.

“We know many drivers are not aware of the state’s Move Over law, or simply choose not to follow it,” Chabarria said. “Tragically, each year too many of our emergency roadside heroes are injured or killed simply for doing their jobs and assisting stranded motorists.”

Jessica Ward, owner of Roadside Services Towing in Kansas City, said that she grapples with the reality that at some point in her career one of her operators will probably get seriously injured and maybe killed just trying to help someone else.

As an owner, she can control the safety and training of her team. She wanted to use the news conference to train the public. She wanted to remind drivers that those working roadside incidents are mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and grandparents.

“They all deserve the opportunity to come home at the end of the day,” she said.

‘Please help us’

An average of 24 emergency responders, including tow truck operators, are stuck and killed by vehicles while working on the side of the road each year, according to AAA.

In 2021, three people were killed and 73 injured in 246 traffic crashes involving parked emergency vehicles with the emergency lights on, said Capt. Steve Wilholt with Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Troop A, which includes the Kansas City area.

There have been 154 such crashes so far this year, which have killed 3 people and injured 32 others, according to preliminary statistics from the highway patrol.

“Drivers of these vehicles could have avoided the crash involving an emergency vehicle simply by obeying Missouri’s Move Over law,” Wilholt said.

Throughout it’s history, the highway patrol has lost nine members who were killed after being struck by a vehicle while making a traffic stop or investigating a crash. Two of those were from Troop A — Corporal Michael E. Webster in October 1993 and Trooper Michael L. Newton in May 2003.

“We ask you to please help us prevent history from repeating itself,” Wilholt said.

The efforts to bring awareness to the dangers first responders face while working along the side of the road comes at a time when Missouri has seen traffic fatalities rise to its highest level in 15 years. In 2021, more than 1,000 people lost their lives on Missouri roads, said Matt Killion, assistant district engineer for MoDOT’s Kansas City District.

“It’s completely unacceptable,” Killion said.

Everyone has a role to play when it comes to reducing traffic injuries and fatalities, he said. One speeding car or distracted driver can make a tragic crash scene worse. Often times, its a cellphone that is causing the distraction.

“The flashing lights on the equipment behind me are designed to catch your eyes — you see the lights, you slow down, you move over,” Killion said. “But the system fails when your eyes are buried in the lights of your cellphone and the effect is often deadly.”