'Nothing's worth not getting home safe:' Tow truck companies offer warning to drivers in wintery weather

When a vehicle crashes, slides off the road or gets stuck, tow truck drivers are the ones to clean it up. Oftentimes putting themselves in danger.

Kai Hampton, the owner of Speedy's Towing & Recovery, said on Tuesday a driver slid into the back of one of their tow trucks. Thankfully, no one was hurt but he said that happens more often than it should.

Speedy's response to winter weather

Once snow and ice started to cover the roads this week, Speedy's Towing & Recovery got an uptick in calls. "The call volume is definitely a whole lot more than normal," said Hampton.

The towing company's dispatch has received hundreds of calls and its drivers have responded to close to 200 incidents. "It is always a combination of accidents and people that just break down, slide off the road, winch outs, or get stuck," added Hampton.

Dangerous job, dangerous conditions

Being a tow truck driver is already a dangerous job and Hampton said the conditions brought on by this week's weather only make it more difficult. He did the job for several years before owning his own business. "You gotta be careful and you have to realize that there may be a driver out there on the road that is not paying attention," Hampton said.

The company has safety measures in place like lights on each of their trucks and wearing high visibility vests to get driver's attention while their crews are out working on the roads and highways.

Slow down & move over

The reality is tow truck drivers are not safe unless other drivers on the road are paying attention. Hampton said the best way to help keep his team and other tow truck drivers safe is for people to slow down and move over.

"One of the really big things that we hope that people take into consideration is just if they see a tow truck on the side of the road and they can do those two things, it increases the chances of our drivers being in a safe position," he added.

So that bad weather does not lead to worse outcomes. "Nothing is worth not getting home safe," said Hampton.