The coronavirus crisis is proving a severe test for the whole country. It has also highlighted how essential one sector is: roadside assistance.
In September 2018 we discussed on the REAC blog a study which put at 30% the number of drivers who use roadside assistance companies each year. In other words: three out of every 10 people who drive need assistance on the road at least once a year. Less than a week ago, in a joint statement by REAC with AGREGA-Grúas (part of Fenadismer, the Federación Nacional de Asociaciones de Transporte de España), we addressed the Government’s crisis cabinet in connection with the state of alarm declared because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
As representatives of more than a hundred roadside assistance companies, at REAC we have asked the authorities to make it easier for companies to use temporary redundancy schemes (ERTEs) on grounds of force majeure, so that they can strategically reduce their workforces.
Our chairman, Manuel Fernández Luque, has asked the Network’s member companies to remain on standby, while minimising operators’ exposure. Their high degree of specialisation makes it even more delicate and necessary not to expose them to the virus unnecessarily.
Spectacular fall in road traffic
On Sunday 29 March, at the end of the second week of lockdown since the state of alarm was declared, traffic on the approaches to cities fell by 87 %, while
long-distance journeys fell by 88.5 % compared with a Sunday in February 2020, according to Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT) data reported by Europa Press. A total of 117,863 journeys were recorded, 88.50 % fewer (compared with the 1,025,035 recorded on a Sunday the previous month).
This fall in traffic, especially car traffic, is unquestionable. In our statement, widely reported in general media and specialist sector media such as Nexotrans and Todo Transporte, we specified that lorry traffic had fallen by 39 %. As for cars, the fall is 85 %.
Tow trucks are essential
The sector’s situation is delicate, although it is important to stress at this point that our activity, despite being classed as transport, is in fact an ancillary and assistance activity in relation to road transport. For this reason, both in the first decree—RD 463/2020 of 14 March—and in that of 29 March (RD 10/2020), which halts non-essential economic activity, roadside assistance remains a service that continues, no matter what.
In fact, among the dozen types of vehicle that can continue to circulate are roadside assistance vehicles, together with those transporting fuel and those distributing medicines, food and post, among others. Moreover, this was established by the Ministry of the Interior order published on Saturday 21 March in the Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE).
Incidents and accidents on the roads continue to occur, and the tow truck service is an indispensable activity for road safety and assistance to travellers: in these circumstances, all those people who must keep working for logistical, security and health reasons.
It is also a basic service for coming to the aid of anyone who leaves home for one of the journeys permitted during lockdown, which is scheduled to last until 11 April.