rreschran

We had two sets. I liked the idea behind the TA set-up, but they could cause damage real quick if they weren't tight. R.

Yep ... just one of MANY forced out of California due to carb.

Hi Guys ... thanks for sharing. I hadn't seen one of these in many, many years. Thanks for sharing. I hope you're doing well. R

In the grand scheme of things, I’m looking at this whole virus mess through optimistic eyes. From yesterday's quick dump of rain and a magnificent rainbow, I’m inspired to share these as words of encouragement amidst all the crap, rumors and false news going around. I’m amazed at how fast, “bullshit travels”, from one end of our small community to the other. But, that aside, I’m trying to stay positive while these emergency actions go forward. It’s my prayer that social distancing will meet its curve where life and business (as we know it) will return to its normal state. For 12-years, America’s way of life was disrupted by the Great Depression where the economy went into a proverbial tail-spin. Fueled by community panic and paranoia, the masses flooded banks and financial institutions only to bring the economy to a screeching halt. President Franklin Roosevelt pleaded with the American people that their fears was causing extreme damage overall, and said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” President Jefferson's speech didn't discuss the amassing of toilet paper of hoarding of sanitizers, but relayed a stron message of calm that needed to be heard. As a pragmamtic professional myself, I believe Jefferson's message helped to return calm and sanity to Americans in the light of adversity. While my immediate family is effected too, we’re simply taking time to love, care, and uplift each other. We’re finding ways to help our neighbors (where we can), and most importantly, we’re together in a survival mode where we’re not panicked. To all of you, just know that this, like any cold, flu, virus, or medical condition that’s come and gone before, optimistically, it will pass in its time. Do what you can that’s in your family’s best interests and yours. Stay positive and face each day with a sense of calm and readiness. I know that’s hard to accept because I’m not in your shoes, but, as Christian author, Tim Hansel, wrote, “Ya’ gotta’ keep dancin.” If ya’ need ta’ talk … “I’m here to pump you up.” Simply jot me an Email at rreschran@gmail.com or leave one here on TowForce. R.

Hi All ... Despite all that's going on in the world, yesterday was a really busy day for me with phone calls by tow owners and drivers. First off, I'm a realist to understand that whatever the reason or cause of this virus thingy ... life goes on. I feel everyone's pain especially if you're an owner, especially if you're an employee of any company affected by the virus. These are trying times that call for creativity, understanding and calm. One of the most repeated questions I fielded yesterday from drivers was, "Can they lay me off?", or, "Can they cut my hours?" To that I'll say, "You betcha." Because of the panic and paranoia of the virus and its deadly under-tones, everyone is being somewhat sequested in the best interests of health and safety. If you were laid-off or had hours cut, it's certainly not something you should take personal, but, something to be immediately and preparedly focused on. I assure you this wasn't something pre-planned and you weren't targeted ... being let-go was certainly a tough decision that unfortunately had to be made. In business, there’s a term called, “Reduction in Force”, also known as, “RIF”, where I guess being, "riffed", is (mildly) one-step up from being fired. The emotions are the same as being fired, yet, there's definitely a difference. Regardless as to the size and strength of a single tow company, losses are calculated in percentages to the overall budget, employee force and ultimate profit. Big or small, all companies aren’t safe from this economic challenge. Responding to these virus orders has forced companies into an emergency downsize. Fact: Simply speaking, as a loss or decline in business, some tow companies can’t afford to maintain a full complement of tow operators, dispatchers, or support personnel. Being, “laid off”, is a temporary, involuntary separation of employment as a result of a loss of business, declining budget, or, in this case, social distancing that’s causing the loss of tow related business. Losing a job is definitely hard-hitting mentally as well as financially that sometimes leaves us with a feeling of hopelessness and helplessness. If you've been let-go, perhaps you can file for unemployment or try and find any job or other source of income until such time this passes. Try to look at your situation positively and use what time you're away from the job to catch-up on home-chores, family, or, that junk car you've always wanted to fix up. Stay in-touch with your company so you're, "in the know", for when these restrictions are lifted and business can return to normal. Watch the news with a watchful eye and don't fall victim to the hype, panic and paranoic. And, in that I remember, Chicago Bears coach, Mike Ditka, saying, ... "This too shall pass." R.

Hi Ginger ... year's ago, (me) as a young San Diego police officer, rolled-up on a VW bug that hit a 4x4 Toyota pickup head-on at 65-mph in one of those shitty, socked-in, foggy nights. Three college girls in the VW were unrestrained. At the moment of impact, the very large girl riding in the back seat unrestrained, was forced bodily-forward into the front seat girls, crushing them both into the dash and windshield. The bug overturned and I happened upon the wreck seconds after impact. I remember screaming, "cover now", while lying stomach down in-traffic lanes and reaching through the drivers-side window hoping to keep the young woman's airway clear. I watched her gasp for air and bleeding extensively from her face for what seemed to be an eternity as fire and paramedics were approaching. Unfortunately, she took her last gasp with me holding her head in full traction. I'll NEVER ... EVER forget the feeling of helplessness at the moment she passed away. The two other girls were already gone. My memories of that double DUI, triple fatal comes to haunt me every time I read about seatbelt incidents. You and I agree that they don't save all lives all the time and not in all instances, yet, you and I understand enough to know their value of their added safety, especially in the line-of-work we do. Please note that my post wasn't to find fault, but, to help send a heartfelt message to other towers that not wearing seatbelts is very much like working the white-line on the highway ... a conscious decision. And, to that I'll add, as many as 27x other tow operators have been killed in similar crashes where they were ejected because seatbelts weren't worn. And yes, there are several operator fatalities where they reportedly had seatbelts on, but, lost their lives ... call it a, "Game of Odds". God Bless you Ginger for your kind, loving soul and helping to support Jason's Family and his company. The world needs more people like you and I'm proud to call you my friend and fellow tower. R.

... "Sometimes they don't help" ? ? ? ? ? I didn't see that written in the owner's manual. I personally believe that seatbelts save lives. And now, many year's later as a retired police officer, I remember wearing a seatbelt every time I drove a patrol car; the belt was a tactical challenge, but I'd take my chances being killed with a seatbelt on versus not wearing a seatbelt at all. I too send my heartfelt condolences Jason's family, his company, and everyone who knew Jason, but wearing seatbelts is not only is state law, but a choice that demonstrates survival data that saves lives. In an incredibally dangerous industry where more safety is better ... I'll do everything to increase my odds of making it to the next day. Thank you Ginger for arranging a procession for Jason. I'm hoping there is a substantial turn-out in his honor. While I can't be there in person, Christine and I are there in-spirit. R.

Hi All. I represented a tow company a few years back where a customer was critically injured after an unexpected head-on crash dumped a customer through and out the window of a tow truck. There was many questions as to whether-or-not the customer was wearing a belt, whether-or-not the tow operator told the customer to wear a seatbelt, and whether-or-not the tow company had written policy that spoke to any requirement to use seatbelts? As a result of the young tower killed yesterday in Florida having been ejected from his vehicle, I went back to my list of tow operator fatalites to find as many as 27x tow operator incidents that reported towers NOT wearing seatbelts and those who were ejected from their tow trucks or carriers. Most died as a result of traffic accident with another vehicle, but a large percentage involved solo vehicle rollover crashes where towers were ejected during the roll. I'll ask tow company owners, does your company HAVE and ENFORCE a companywide, "Seatbelt Policy", as a written requirement to wearing seatbelts? It's so very sad that this young tower lost his life for something so simple as wearing a seatbelt. While seatbelts won't save every life in every scenario, their use has proved effective in saving lives. I know that a policy may be in effect, and getting to wear seatbelts is a difficult task being that, "outta' sight outta' mind", mentality. In my company's Employee Handbook, I have a solid policy that requires my employees to wear seatbelts, as required by the company and as required by law and OSHA guidelines. A written policy is not optional nor is it a violation of an employee's rights. You might say it's part of their Personal Protection Equipment to be used every time they operate ANY company vehicle or forklift as part of their duties. I personally believe seatbelt use saves lives. The following statement (in BLUE font) is my company policy requiring all employees and passengers to wear seatbelts. Seatbelts Policy – ALL Employees: Section 27315 of California’s Vehicle Code REQUIRES tow operators, passenger(s) and all riders to wear seatbelts. Additionally, Tow Operators WILL ensure ALL passengers have seatbelts securely fastened. The Company requires ALL Tow Operators and Service Technicians, as well as other employees, to wear seatbelts in Company owned vehicles, tow trucks, of forklifts, as required by state, federal and OSHA mandates. Tow Operators and Service Technicians will NOT transport passenger(s) unless seatbelts are available for each person. In situations where there are more passengers than seatbelts, Operators will advise Dispatch and request appropriate supervisory solutions to be readily determined in the dispatch office. ALL persons SHALL wear seatbelts when riding in Company owned vehicles. Specifically, any employee operating a Company vehicle SHALL ensure that ALL passengers are wearing seatbelts before said vehicle is put into motion. Forklift and heavy equipment operators will wear seatbelts at ALL times when the operator is seated atop a forklift truck or operating heavy equipment. NO operation will begin until a seatbelt(s) is securely and appropriately fastened. If and employee is stopped by law enforcement for NOT wearing a seatbelt, the Company is NOT responsible for the fine levied. Dismissal MAY occur if Tow Operators or Service Technicians have cumulative violations of plus two-points and or preventable accident on their MVR and cannot be insured by our insurance provider. For other employees operating Company vehicles, you are also responsible to wear seatbelts and have all riders wear theirs. Also note that, owners and managers are tasked with ensuring that tow drivers and employees comply with a seatbelt policy. Accordingly, if it's not written with company expectations that seatbelts are worn, then you can't discipline them for when they don't wear seatbelts. As owner, you set the tone for seatbelt use with intent of possibly saving your employee's life. If you have no written policy at the moment, and going forward, simply re-write this policy with the appropriate vehicle code in your state and add the heading that reads, "SEAT-BELT POLICY". At the bottom of the narrative, add a line for the employee's signature, a line below that for a witness signature, and a line for the date of presentation at the bottom of the paper. Present it immediately at your next safety meeting, at a special meeting with your (driving) employees, or in a one-on-one visit. With the employee signing the SEAT-BELT POLICY, they are agreeing to abide by the requirement of wearing seatbelts from the date of notification forward. If they don't want to sign it, then you'll have to jump off that bridge when that happens. The signed policy goes into the employee's file. There are legal reasons beyond injury or death where your company should protects its best interests. Personally, to not require tow operators and employees to wear seatbelts on all occassions is a poor safety decision. Owners ... it's an easy policy to initiate if you already haven't. Make it a daily requirement that's not negotiable. R.

I really dislike that fatality counter ... it woke the sleeping dragon. Another unfortunate fatality. Christine and I send our prayers to Everitt's family and Sunstate Wrecker Services. R.

A month ago, a close friend and long-time tow owner and I had lunch talking about what’s and happenings going on? He mentioned that one of his drivers (another long-time friend of mine) had three damages in the last quarterly reporting period. Two damages were carrier related suspension damages, and one was a backing incident where he backed an auction car into another auction car during auction. The suspension repair costs weren’t something to send to insurance and the auction car damages were a wash. The owner asked me for advice and I know he was struggling with the issue of firing the driver versus keeping him on? For sure, that’s a hard choice. In my mind, when an experienced, long-time, skilled operator has back-to-back issues in a close period, I’m thinking there’s maybe something going-on that’s beyond the work environment, either in personal relationships, work, or life in-general? And, to address that, I recommended he take his driver to lunch or have an informal conversation that begins with something like, “You’ve worked for me for a long time and you’ve done a great job. I’m concerned about what’s happened recently. Is there something I can help you with?” THe owner expressed his concern about the damages, but made the converation more personal allowing the employee to share what happend. In this case, they went to lunch and it was determined that there was a relationship issue outside the workplace, but the relationship issue had been resolved. The driver was able to talk openly without going into the details too much. At the end of their conversation, the driver said he was sorry and he would do better. And, since that time, the driver appears to be back-on-track both in his personality and abilities. As an owner, changing hats and open communitation are two giantic attributes to have. Some say that keeping relationships seperate is the way to go keeping in-mind that long-term, committed drivers are hard replace. I believe it's more than that. So, I'll ask ... "How do you owners handle issues or damages when they occur to best friend drivers?" Or, is there such a thing? R.

Here's a link to an interesting article where law enforocement is using current technology to stop suspect vehicles involved in high-speed chases. If technology can open a vehicle or find a crashed car that's in a ravine by satellite, the same technology can shut-down a car's system when circumstances put the motoring public and the public at risk ... it's about time. R. https://www.officer.com/command-hq/technology/traffic/suspect-vehicle-control/news/21130451/with-highspeed-chases-curtailed-minneapolis-police-try-new-tack-in-pursuit-of-stolen-vehicles

Yeah ... you could say that I'm one of those letter writing fools. I reviewed the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers List sent out by the federal government and state governments. You may have seen it? I spent much of this morning drafting a letter to send forward to the goverment in the same manner Bill Giorgis commented. My writing the letter is one of those, "too much time thingys". Link: https://covid19.ca.gov/img/EssentialCriticalInfrastructureWorkers.pdf Other than Bill Giorgis, and not knowing that any person or state tow association has taken time to respondto the list, and, because not every tow company is responding to calls, I don't want the motoring public and auto club providers to think that this is a blanket letter that all calls in all locations will be honored under all conditions. My letter doesn't whine that we we're left out ... but, serves as our willingness to serve, however, there are restrictions to our response. In my narrative, I mentioned a list of best practices to suggest that if a customer has to call for a tow truck, here are ten considerations ... Consider parking in a safe location, return home and arrange towing at a later time If at home, consider arranging for a time-call during daylight hours or, Contact your auto club, motor club, insurance provider (app or phone) Remove personals and items of value Arrange to leave keys with the vehicle (in a hidden or designated location) Make arrangements with the auto shop or repair center to accept deliver of vehicle Make arrangements to pay by credit card over the phone Make other arrangements of transportation (Uber, Lyft, taxi, bus, etc.) Call 911 only if a bonifide emergency exists, or If the vehicle becomes disabled on the highway, pull as far to the shoulder’s edge (away from traffic) as possible, and call 911 Do you guys really care if we're on the list or should a letter be sent out? While I don't really need anyone's permission to send out a letter, it does include the towing and recovery industry in-support of those tow companies still willing to serve under smart criteria. The letter is poised and ready to send, yet I'd like to hear your ideas as to the value or (otherwise) insignifficance of sending a letter? Note: Any letter I send will go out under the heading, "Randall Resch Training", not under title representing my affiliations to industry publications as I don't have their permission. Comments? R.

Yeah ... you could say that I'm one of those letter writing fools. I reviewed the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers List sent out by the federal government and state governments. You may have seen it? I spent much of this morning drafting a letter to send forward to the goverment in the same manner Bill Giorgis commented. My writing the letter is one of those, "too much time thingys". Link: https://covid19.ca.gov/img/EssentialCriticalInfrastructureWorkers.pdf Other than Bill Giorgis, and not knowing that any person or state tow association has taken time to respondto the list, and, because not every tow company is responding to calls, I don't want the motoring public and auto club providers to think that this is a blanket letter that all calls in all locations will be honored under all conditions. My letter doesn't whine that we we're left out ... but, serves as our willingness to serve, however, there are restrictions to our response. In my narrative, I mentioned a list of best practices to suggest that if a customer has to call for a tow truck, here are ten considerations ... Consider parking in a safe location, return home and arrange towing at a later time If at home, consider arranging for a time-call during daylight hours or, Contact your auto club, motor club, insurance provider (app or phone) Remove personals and items of value Arrange to leave keys with the vehicle (in a hidden or designated location) Make arrangements with the auto shop or repair center to accept deliver of vehicle Make arrangements to pay by credit card over the phone Make other arrangements of transportation (Uber, Lyft, taxi, bus, etc.) Call 911 only if a bonifide emergency exists, or If the vehicle becomes disabled on the highway, pull as far to the shoulder’s edge (away from traffic) as possible, and call 911 Do you guys really care if we're on the list or should a letter be sent out? While I don't really need anyone's permission to send out a letter, it does include the towing and recovery industry in-support of those tow companies still willing to serve under smart criteria. The letter is poised and ready to send, yet I'd like to hear your ideas as to the value or (otherwise) insignifficance of sending a letter? Note: Any letter I send will go out under the heading, "Randall Resch Training", not under title representing my affiliations to industry publications as I don't have their permission. Comments? R.

Thanks for sharing your, "job from hell", something evey tow has at one time or another. Be Well John. Best regards. R.

Hi All ... I hope that you're social distancing has fallen into part of your general routine. Like many of you, I now have too much time on my hands and that's not always a good thing. So, I took to the internet to Google the topic of, "Is too much sanitizer a good thing", and came up with a ton of responses that, at the very least, I think are interesting reading. I like to be informed so to keep abreast of the current state of the virus, but not to be panicked or over-paranoid. While I understand the need to control germs, I've always thought that too much sanitizer has a potential to change ones immunse system. I also know that in all reality, sanitizers don't elimiate or kill all of the germs in a germ like setting. One of my daughters is a, "germaphobe", where her family of seven uses sanitizers, soaps and cleaners to the max. Could all of those chemicals and combinations be creating, "over-kill", to their systems? In their household of seven, someone is always sick and it passes around like rotation. I don't know if there's scientific proof that too much sanitizer is good or bad for one's system, I'm comfortable with maintaining good hygiene that includes regular hand-washing and the like. I won't get in the middle of this debate and every person should make their own choices based on what they are told and what they have experienced. From the CDC, here's a good link that provides believeable information. https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/show-me-the-science-hand-sanitizer.html Like using too much sanitizer is the over-kill of too much toilet paper. So, when it comes to using toilet paper, can too much wiping be good or bad for one's backsides? Accordingly, when and if all that TP is put into action, there's the threat that it will clog every sweage treatment plant or landfill from here to China. We're on septic and take different measures to maintain the system. R.