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 2021.
We are continuing to document accidents in our sector, which is why we are returning to this subject here, as we did in March with the accidents involving tow trucks and roadside assistance professionals in 2020. The Roadside Assistance Companies Network (REAC) continues to work, through the #NIUNOMÁS platform, to raise public awareness of the road victims who lose their lives or are seriously injured while trying to assist a vehicle.
2021 was a year in which reports such as this one by journalist Contessa Brewer for CNBC were published in the USA. The report speaks of 1,600 deaths on the road since 2015 in that country alone, counting tow-truck professionals, emergency service workers and traffic officers; and it tells the story of a courageous mother who is seeking to push through a law making it compulsory to move over when seeing an emergency situation on the road.
What happened in Spain in 2021? Here is a record of accidents that would not have occurred had drivers done what Americans call “move over”:
- 19 January, the first accident of the year left three bodies on the tarmac. Three human lives were lost when pedestrians were struck on the A-62 at Tordesillas.
- That same day, another person was struck and killed on the M-50 in Madrid. A 59-year-old man lost his life when he got out of the tow truck to secure the load, an antique carriage. A heavy goods lorry hit him at that moment, and SUMMA, with the help of the Red Cross, could do nothing for him. Source: Madrid112.
- 15 February, the AP-9 -before the Peinador exit, towards Pontevedra- saw a tow truck carrying a car catch fire; fortunately, there were no fatalities. Source: Vigo al minuto.
- 17 February, on the M-45 in Madrid, a fatal accident occurred when a driver lost control and ran over a 43-year-old tow-truck worker. A ride-hailing (VTC) driver was also seriously injured. The accident took place in San Fernando de Henares. Source: El Mundo.
- 17 May, on the A-4, between Aranjuez and Seseña in Toledo, a collision between a small lorry and a tow truck that was working on another vehicle left 3 people injured to varying degrees (the 23-year-old tow-truck operator, slightly). Source: Noticias para municipios.
- 28 May, the TP-7225 in Constantí (Tarragona), towards Reus, was the scene of a collision between a tow truck and a motorcyclist, in which the latter died. Source: El Caso.
- 8 July, a collision in Palma de Mallorca about which few details are known; it was not reported in the press.
- 2 August, a collision in Gran Canaria with no fatalities, about which few details are known.
- 3 August, on the A-381 Jerez-Algeciras road, a tow-truck operator was struck and killed.
- 8 November, the Cáceres dual carriageway was the scene of a collision in which there was only material damage.
- 13 November, another collision occurred in Toledo.
- 19 November, a 38-year-old man working on the hard shoulder was struck and killed on the A-7 in Alhaurín de la Torre. Source: Málaga Hoy.
A death, that of 19 November 2021, which was in some ways the trigger for the wave of outrage and solidarity in the sector which, feeling increasingly vulnerable, launched the #NIUNOMÁS platform.