As a professional group, we are documenting the number of deaths that occur while roadside assistance operators are working. Here is a list of the accidents in 2020.
One of the greatest concerns of the Roadside Assistance Companies Network (REAC) today is the safety of our roadside assistance operators. It is a subject we address more and more often, since not a year goes by without us mourning the deaths of several colleagues on the road.
In November 2021, REAC launched the #NIUNOMÁS platform, which aims to make society at large aware of the victims on hard shoulders and during rescues. Deaths that could clearly be avoided. A Health and Safety committee has also been set up and is already carrying out a series of actions aimed at putting an end to this scourge.
We are working on a document that aims to record each and every death that occurs when tow trucks -driven by people- go out to carry out their rescues. Let us look at what happened in 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic began.
- 19 February, the first accident of the year, a spectacular multiple-vehicle accident on the M-40 in the direction of the A-2, which left 12 people injured. A lorry ran into a tow truck that was assisting a van, which in turn had a puncture. The 31-year-old tow-truck operator was thrown several metres by the impact; he was taken to the Ramón y Cajal Hospital with minor injuries. The 54-year-old van driver was trapped between the tow truck and his vehicle, with serious injuries, including heavy bleeding, which took him to the 12 de Octubre Hospital. Source: La Razón.
- 25 May, the first fatal hit of the year, on the AP-1, near Monasterio de Rodilla, Burgos. A 50-year-old man died while attending a breakdown, run over by a lorry that collided with the tow truck. The driver of the heavy vehicle was seriously injured, while the driver of the broken-down car was treated at the scene. Source: burgosconecta.
- 1 June, the second fatal hit that year, this time on the A-7 at Alhama de Murcia. A 41-year-old tow-truck driver died after being run over by a lorry. When the 061 emergency services and the Guardia Civil arrived, the operator had died. Source: Siete Días Alhama. It was also reported by Nuevodiario.
- 27 June, a hit with three people injured on the A-62 towards Valladolid near Dueñas (Palencia), following a collision between two lorries. One of them was a tow truck, stopped while a 50-year-old mechanic was changing a car’s wheel. He was injured and taken by mobile ICU to the Río Carrión Hospital in Palencia. Source: Diario de Burgos.
- 17 July, a collision between a tow truck and a car on the M-506 near Móstoles, with no fatalities. Source: zonaretiro.com.
- 27 July, a fatal hit on the PA-20 at Mutilva (Navarre). The operator was assisting a broken-down vehicle on this road. A heavy vehicle ran him over while he was loading the car onto the tow truck. A medical ambulance took him, still alive, to the Navarre Hospital Complex. Source: Diario de Navarra.
- 17 September, a fatal hit on the A-5 near the municipality of Maqueda, towards Madrid. A 28-year-old employee of a tow-truck company died while recovering a burnt-out car, after losing his left arm and striking the cab of his own tow truck. The driver of the van that hit the worker tested negative for alcohol and other substances. Source: ABC.
- 24 September, a fatal hit on the A-3 at the entrance to Madrid. The 31-year-old tow-truck driver was accidentally run over by a lorry between the districts of Vicálvaro and Villa de Vallecas, on a service road of the dual carriageway, near the Valdmingómez settlement. The victim was loading a broken-down National Police vehicle when a tipper lorry ran him over. He had to be rescued by the Madrid City Council Fire Brigade. Source: Gacetín Madrid.
- 3 November, a fatal hit on the M-45 in Madrid. The 36-year-old tow-truck driver was loading a broken-down car when a lorry ran him over, killing him. Source: zonaretiro.com.
- 21 December, a fatal accident caused by faulty equipment in Bayona (Pontevedra). The deceased, a native of the municipality of Barro, was operating his tow truck, loading a car and a motorbike, when the ramp collapsed, cutting his life short. Source: Diario de Pontevedra.
