Ken,
Welcome
Many good points above, all true and sage wisdom. However, the most important aspect of this is you. "YOU" are the man in the Arena and we each have a unique vantage points of clarity. You will pay for your education(PERIOD) the question is how do you want to do it. The biggest detriment is ignorance and you're have started work on that. ***Education*** Never stops. I'm sure some dreamer thought of Windows, Tesla, Apple, FB, etc....... before the victor brought it to market, yet Humbly, I'm not Holmes, Donny Cruse, etc... I respect those before me and the fact of Life/humanity is the Elders will have to impart their wisdom and you will be the decider to balance the wisdom and hold the reins of youth. It's said above, could you imagine going down range with NO Training, No Experience. Could you imagine the balls of the Founding Father's to raise up against the undefeated Super Power with no guarantee the France would back they with $$$ they didn't have.
Like your parent's talking in pig Latin when you were a boy- You might not have this down quite right. Working for AAA as their employee and subjugating your company and trucks to AAA are different. Many Proficient technician's may start their own show and there are plenty of savvy corporation's that will have you run at a loss and detriment to the fellow operator's.
We all would love to see you succeed in this venture and be an asset to yourself, your family community, the Industry and this Nation. “Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.” —Denis Waitley
I commend the effort to raise awareness. yet have issue with the appearance of Operator lack of situational awareness, lack to Traffic Control measure and addressing only 1 component of making the work space safer. If we are really serious, Towers, Population, Service Vendors, Equipment Manufacturers and Law Enforcement need to look at the best ROI to accomplish a safer environment without stopping traffic flow. The Risk Assessment- Probability, Severity and application of mitigation factors. Yes, awareness is a component. But, they can't afford to deploy a traffic attenuator.