TowNews Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 'Engage your brain before you engage your transmission': Close call prompts warning from Sask. tow truck driver Slavko Hardi says a semi lost control on Highway 16 and struck his tow truck. (Facebook) SASKATOON -- Slavko Hardi has a message for drivers approaching a tow truck working at the side of the road. “People should engage their brains before they engage their transmission into gear. Even to start traveling you have to think about what can happen. Weather in Saskatchewan can be changed in a moment. One side wind on the highway and there’s ice, perfect conditions for being stuck on the road or even worse.” On Monday around 4:40 p.m., Hardi was winching a yellow cube van out of the ditch on Highway 16 near Denholm when a semi spun out of control and hit his tow truck. “Luckily I wasn’t in the truck and I had enough time to react and run for cover and avoid the worst,” said Hardi, owner of Hardi Towing. He estimates the truck was still traveling at the highway speed limit and hadn’t slowed down to 60 kilometres per hour. “I just saw a trailer from the distance started whipping behind him, from side to side, and I said ‘this is not going to be good.” His truck was totaled in the crash. Hardi said he has also seen people sliding into the ditch while he was assisting other drivers because they didn’t slow down. “That’s the biggest problem here. People don’t slow down no matter what.” RESOURCE LINK Battleford tow truck incident sparks importance of highway safety As temperatures continue to fluctuate in Saskatchewan, leading to less than ideal road conditions, one tow truck driver’s harrowing experience highlights the need to slow down on icy highways. On Monday, Slavko Hardi, the owner and operator of Hardi Towing in Battleford, was in the process of towing a vehicle out of the ditch on Highway 16 about 30 kilometres outside North Battleford, when he noticed a semi-truck starting to veer side to side. “I saw this truck coming from way ahead that was starting to lose control,” Hardi said. “I didn’t want to wait and see what’s going to happen and ran into the ditch. Sure enough, the truck hit my truck, lucky it didn’t spin too much out of control.” Hardi said he’s felt relief in the days since having survived the incident, noting that the end result could have been much worse. RESOURCE LINK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProTower Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 Thankfully you were not injured! Our company has been on the receiving end of the same stupid drivers 3 times over the past 30 years totaling out all 3 trucks. Thank GOD nobody was injured but 2 of the trucks were less than 6 months old at the time. Quote Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooter64 Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 My father in law just told me that the RCMP are not pressing charges against the semi driver due to the ICY CONDITIONS at the time. If the road is icy shouldn't you slow done for the conditions never mind the SDMO speed limit of 60 kms per hour. Why don't our lives matter to law enforcement? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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