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Courtney Schaefer's widow, Kim Schaefer, says she hopes more changes to laws keeping emergency responders safe come as a result of her husband's death responding to an accident at the side of the road near Esterhazy four years ago. Schaefer was a tow-truck operator struck by a vehicle on the side of the highway as he attempted to help a motorist during a snow storm.
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Some changes have already come about because of Schaefer's death, and a movement by firefighters, police officers, tow truck operators and ambulance operators to memorialize Schaefer each March is spreading to more regions.
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Kim Schaefer says the first steps supporters took after Schaefer's death were pushing for blue lights to help identify tow truck operators from a distance and help prepare drivers to slow down when approaching them.
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鈥淭he first step we took was the blue lights being allowed on the tow trucks. We think they鈥檝e made a difference. We are trying everything for people to just be safe out there. But people still aren鈥檛 slowing down, we鈥檙e hoping the lights make a difference and everyone slows down. Everybody seems to be in a rush lately and more people are still getting killed each year.鈥�
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Schaefer says the annual Slow Down, Move Over event was kickstarted by tow truck operators who have had to deal with the dangers of the job.
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鈥淩oadside responders and tow-operators were the ones who really got this together. They informed me the first time and I thought it was a good idea. Dallas Bailey from Bailey Boys Towing comes every year with the fire department. It鈥檚 just Saskatchewan-wide but now they want it to be nation-wide.鈥�
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In part because of Courtney鈥檚 death, a law was passed to allow for the use of blue and amber lights as well as fines for those who pass emergency responders at above 60 km/h on the highway.听
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Schaefer hopes the movement expands past Saskatchewan and spreads across Canada.
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鈥淲e do get a lot of support,鈥� said Schaefer. "Every community from Whitewood, to Yorkton, and even Saskatoon do this too. So moving forward we want to work with Manitoba and Alberta to hopefully make this go Canada-wide.鈥�
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President of the Roadside Responders Association of Saskatchewan (RRA), Brad Stratychuk, says the job can be dangerous due to reckless drivers.
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鈥淚f you鈥檝e ever broken down on the side of the road or had a flat tire, you can imagine how scary that is and it鈥檚 something that our industry deals with on a daily if not hourly basis. We鈥檒l do anything we can do to make people aware that it鈥檚 a human life standing there and they need to put the phone down and slow down and be aware so we can get home at the end of the day, it鈥檚 scary to be out there for sure,鈥� said Stratychuk.
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He says that the process of getting new lights started in 2015 with a survey by SGI.
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鈥淚n around 2015, SGI passed out a survey to the industry that was just a general question survey about wearing steel toed boots or wearing high-vis coats and using construction cones. One of the questions in that survey was asking what colour of lights we would like to have on our tow trucks. They had quite a few companies respond to that survey and that started the conversation about changing the lights so they are more visible. In the fall of 2016, we were fairly active in dealing with the ministry and with SGI in advocating for a distinct light, whether it be red and amber or blue and amber, we just wanted something.鈥�
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Stratychuk says the use of amber lights was not having the same effect it once did.
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鈥淭here are so many orange lights now on bobcats, on wide loads, and it seemed that people just thought we were them and became immune to the lights. When you鈥檙e on the side of the road and traffic is going past you quickly, it鈥檚 not a good place to be. North America-wide in 2016 there was one tow truck driver killed every six days. Which is a bigger number than police and firemen combined. And it鈥檚 100 per cent not necessary, it doesn鈥檛 need to happen that way.鈥�
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Saskatchewan became the first province to have unique lighting on tow trucks and roadside responders after the group continued their advocacy.听
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Stratychuk says that the unfortunate accident with Courtney Schaefer accelerated the process.
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鈥淲e started the advocacy in the fall, and in March of 2017, Courtney was tragically killed doing his job. And that sped things up. The government moved very swiftly and introduced distinctive lighting to our industry and made it a law that passing us at over 60 km/h results in a traffic fine.
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We鈥檙e advocating for some changes and in the fall and we sent a letter saying that this was going to happen again. It is not a matter of if, it鈥檚 when. There have been two tow truck drivers in Saskatchewan that have been killed now, but there鈥檚 been a whole bunch injured which is completely unnecessary if people would be able to respect the fact that somebody was there working and just slow down a little bit.鈥�
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Moving forward, Stratychuk says they will be working with the Roadside Responders Association of Alberta to bring similar laws to Alberta.听
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It鈥檚 not just tow truck operators and roadside responders who benefit from this awareness campaign, it is also something local fire departments advocate for.
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Volunteer Fire Chief of the Esterhazy Fire Department, Borden Kishalowich, says they are just doing their job and trying to help those who need it.
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鈥淎nytime we鈥檙e out on the road with lights flashing. We鈥檙e trying to help somebody out, whether it鈥檚 extracting someone from a vehicle or helping the ambulance service and we have guys getting equipment out of the vehicles. We鈥檙e always around the trucks and it just makes it safer for us,鈥� said Kishalowich.
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He explained that following the accident in 2017, the community became more aware and cautious when driving near emergency vehicles, but there are still issues with non-Saskatchewan residents travelling on the highways.
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鈥淚n our local community, anybody that鈥檚 here has noticed and has definitely slowed down when we鈥檙e out there. But we have so many travelers from different provinces who might not be aware of some of our rules out here. It鈥檚 the people that are new to the country or workers who are from out of province that doesn鈥檛 know about this, it helps make them aware.鈥�
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Kishalowich explains that they aren鈥檛 asking much and are only asking drivers to slow down and be cautious.
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鈥淲e want you to slow down as the first thing. Sometimes we have to block off one of the lanes so we will have members on the road directing traffic, so you may have to stop to let the other lane through or come to a complete stop if the accident is in the road and we have to block the highway for a while. That鈥檚 all we鈥檙e asking. Just slow down and follow our instructions.鈥�
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