Latest Towing News Around the World

Roadside dangers take center stage in this sobering exploration of the hazards facing tow truck operators worldwide. The deadly toll becomes immediately apparent as we uncover the shocking pattern of violence in Durban, South Africa, where three drivers have been killed in suspected drive-by shootings this year alone, highlighting an alarming trend that authorities have yet to address effectively.

The regulatory landscape for towing services is evolving rapidly across multiple continents. Ghana's mandatory towing subscription program represents an innovative approach to clearing highways of abandoned vehicles while avoiding monopolistic concerns that plagued previous attempts. Meanwhile, Australia has expanded its protective slow-down laws to shield tow truck operators and roadside workers, imposing substantial fines on drivers who fail to reduce speed when passing these vulnerable professionals.

American towing companies face both tragedy and controversy. We examine the heartbreaking case of Rico Funches, who lost his life when his tow truck plunged into a pond following a multi-vehicle collision in Mississippi. In Kansas City, a different battle unfolds as authorities crack down on predatory towing practices, seizing vehicles and bringing charges against operators accused of illegal activities. The towing industry's pushback against what they consider excessive regulation reveals the complex balance between consumer protection and reasonable oversight.

Perhaps most poignant is the survival story of Florida tow truck driver John Umara, who suffered severe injuries when struck while working roadside. His impassioned plea for drivers to "move over, slow down" serves as both a reminder of the risks these essential workers face daily and a call to action for all motorists. Whether you're a towing professional, a concerned citizen, or a policy maker, this comprehensive examination of the industry's challenges demands your attention and underscores the urgent need for enhanced safety measures worldwide.

Share your thoughts on how we can better protect these roadside heroes. Have you witnessed dangerous situations involving tow truck operators? Let us know in the comments or leave a review sharing your experiences.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm Wesley Wilburn and this is Towing News.
Now We'll start today withworld news.
First we'll start out in Durban, south Africa, where, for the
third time this year, a towtruck driver was killed in a
suspected drive-by shooting.
In the fourth shooting incidenttargeting tow truck drivers
this year, the man was shot andkilled on the N2 near the Old

(00:23):
Durban Airport site on Fridaynight.
Emerging paramedic spokespersonKyle Van Reneen said paramedics
, together with other agenciesand law enforcement, responded
to the shooting.
Van Reneen said paramedicsassisted the man and he was
declared deceased.
The Mercury, a local newspaper,reported in March that a tow
truck driver was shot dead whileseated in the vehicle on the M7

(00:46):
near the N2 bridge.
This comes after a tow truckdriver was killed in a drive-by
shooting in February while hewas seated in his tow truck in
the same area.
Meanwhile, in another shootingincident in February, a tow
truck driver was seriouslyinjured in an alleged drive-by
shooting on the M7 near the N2bridge.
Our next story takes us to Ghanain West Africa, where the

(01:09):
National Roads and HighwayAuthority roll out a mandatory
towing subscription for allvehicle owners.
This announcement comes inresponse to a growing public
concern over the increasingnumber of broken down vehicles
left unattended on majorhighways, especially during rush
hours, causing severe trafficcongesting and posing safety
risks.

(01:29):
Speaking on the City BreakfastShow on Wednesday, the Managing
Director, abraham Ambalieva,explained that the proposed
measure would be included in anew legislative instrument which
also covers the legislation ofcommercial motor spike
operations.
This is a variant of the towinglaw that was introduced but
later suspended.

(01:50):
The new development will ensurethat vehicle owners must
subscribe to a towing company orinsurance.
The earlier one that wasintroduced had a monopoly
concern in the collection of thetowing fee, but the new
thinking, which will be in theOkada legislation, will see that
when the law is passed, everyowner must subscribe to the
towing company or insurancecompany so that when your

(02:11):
vehicle breaks down, you justcall your subscriber to come to
your aid.
Amaliba further stated thatfailure to comply will result in
penalty.
They will require that when youfail to do that, the NRSA will
come in and tow the vehicle, butyou will be surcharged for that
.
When that is passed, it willreduce the incidence of vehicle
breaking down on the roadsbecause as it stands, it appears

(02:33):
that there is no regulation inthat regard, he stated.
This next story takes us toVictoria, australia, where they
recently passed slow down laws.
Drivers will now need to slowdown when passing tow trucks,
roadside mechanics and emergencytraffic manager workers.
The 40 kilometers per hour or25 miles per hour slow down
rules previously only appliedwhen emergency services and

(02:56):
VicRoads incident responsevehicles were stopped on the
side of the road, but theextended rules were announced by
the state government onWednesday.
The rule applies when motoristssee any vehicles with flashing
red, blue, magenta or yellowlights stopped on the side of
the road.
Workers from accident towingcompanies break down.
Towing roadside assistance,peninsula Link incident response

(03:18):
, east Link incident responseand Transurban incident response
will be covered by the change.
Incident response andtrans-urban incident response
will be covered by the change.
Drivers can be fined up to $961Australian dollars for breaking
the rule.
The expanded rules will takeeffect July 1st.
Now here's stories from thestates no-transcript.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
The victim of the deadly crash on Florence Byram
Road has been identified as RicoFunches, the Rankin County
Sheriff's Department respondingto a three-vehicle crash in the
area of Florence Byram Road nearFinco Farms Road around 7 37
Saturday.
Investigators say when theyarrived a tow truck was in a

(04:05):
nearby pond.
Funches, who was the driver ofthe tow truck, was rescued by
bystanders.
Paramedics tried to revive him,but he was later pronounced
dead.
Funches was carrying anothercar on the tow truck when the
accident happened.
The drivers of the other twovehicles survived with little to
no injuries.
Lieutenant TJ Piku tells us theprocess of getting the tow

(04:27):
truck out of the water.

Speaker 3 (04:28):
It's a lengthy process, especially the weight
of the truck.
Approximate weight of the towtruck itself, with no weight on
it, it's about 18,500 pounds.
It did have a vehicle on therollback.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
Brian Grantham, the Rankin County Emergency
Operations Director, says histeam, the Rescue Dive Recovery
Specialist, was called to assistthe recovery taking hours.

Speaker 4 (04:53):
The power lines are directly above the car wreck, so
the tow truck and the booms arenot able to fully extend like
they need to, and also with themajority of the tow truck being
underwater, submerged in the mud, it does make it a little more
complex.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
The crash is still under investigation.
I'm live in Rankin County,kennedy Cooper 16.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
We'll keep you updated on this story.
Now an update on the KansasCity Metro towing news.
Detectives now have towed awayseveral tow trucks that are
believed to be used forpredatory practices.

Speaker 5 (05:29):
We Kansas City leaders announced steps to
combat predatory towing.
It comes after a tow companyowner and employee were taken
into custody on several chargesrelated to alleged illegal
towing.
Kc5 Chandler Watkins shows ushow the Kansas City Police
Department is cracking down onpredatory tactics.

Speaker 6 (05:49):
It's obviously been a hot topic that we have been
receiving information on in thelast several weeks.

Speaker 7 (05:54):
Earlier this month, Jackson and Platt County
prosecutors announced chargesagainst Metro tow and transport
owner, Donald Adamson and hismom and employee, Lynette
Adamson, following numerouscomplaints on the company.
Soon after the Kansas CityPolice Department asked the
community to reach out if theyhad been victims of predatory
towing in the city.

Speaker 6 (06:14):
Those investigators have received well over 100
emails by this point in time.

Speaker 7 (06:18):
On Friday a search warrant was conducted on a
towing company.
The department had receivedseveral complaints about KCPD
posted them towing away thecompany's tow trucks, stating
the detective's investigationcontinues and charges are
possible.

Speaker 6 (06:32):
We wanted the public to know that we're hearing these
issues, we're hearing them onthese issues and we're being
responsive and theseinvestigations are ongoing.

Speaker 7 (06:40):
It comes as Kansas City leaders are looking to
crack down on illegal towing aswell, introducing new
legislation at City Councilearlier this week that would
increase penalties for illegalbehavior and create additional
responsibilities for towoperators.

Speaker 8 (06:55):
It is our view that this has been an area that has
been unregulated for too long.
That's why you are seeing thiswork being done.

Speaker 7 (07:01):
Next Monday, Jackson County legislators are also
expected to discuss possibleregulations and penalties for
predato.
One of the proposals is I orfines on towing compan.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
We'll keep you updated on the case.
And the next story is fromMissouri tow owners, who
organized in response to theproposals coming from the
Missouri area.
This video includes aninterview from Jared Ennis, the
president of the Missouri TowingAssociation.

Speaker 9 (07:40):
Towing has been making headlines and sparking a
push to change the law.

Speaker 7 (07:44):
This comes after a mother and son duo at Metro Tow
were charged with nearly 20felony counts for how they
handled non-consensual towingand impounding.

Speaker 9 (07:54):
Both Kansas City and Jackson County are working on
ordinances with tougherpenalties, and now the towing
industry is organizing to pushback.
Kctv 5's Betsy Webster is inIndependence, where dozens of
tow companies met to figure outhow to handle what they say is
going a step too far.

Speaker 10 (08:11):
I asked all the folks in this room to raise
their hands, one per company.
Can you guys do it again?
One per company, one percompany.
Raise your hand.
Yeah, I asked these guys toraise their hands, one per
company.
There were at least 24, Icounted.
These are folks who help outthe police.
These are folks who tow peoplewho are stranded on the side of
the road.
Legit businesses worried thatthey're going to be punished

(08:37):
because of a few shady operators.
They pulled their trucks intoSaints Pub and Patio.
With experience in several areacounties.

Speaker 8 (08:40):
I've got my own companies in Clay County, Platt
County, Buchanan County and thefees are all very similar
between the three and they'reone-tenth of what Jackson County
is proposing Truth.

Speaker 10 (08:51):
This is an application for a Platt County
tow license $75 per business and$25 per vehicle.
The Jackson County ordinanceintroduced reads $1,000 per
business and $250 per vehicle.
The crew that crowded into therestaurant Monday is also
concerned about the proposedpenalties a minimum suspension
of 45 to 90 days for a singleviolation of the rules.

Speaker 8 (09:15):
If you have 50 trucks and one guy goes out and
doesn't do it right, whetherintentional or not, there's some
serious consequences that Ithink are a little bit too
severe.

Speaker 10 (09:23):
Licensing makes sense.
He said Penalties too, but heworries about the rush to react.

Speaker 8 (09:29):
Let's identify the problems and what solutions they
want to have and get a goodordinance.

Speaker 10 (09:34):
The president of the Missouri Tow Truck Association
said the Jackson Countyordinance is the one that gives
him the most concern the KansasCity ordinance.
He says that he suggested a fewtweaks but overall seems pretty
reasonable in IndependenceMissouri.

Speaker 7 (09:51):
The tow truck driver is recovering after he was
slammed into while working onthe side of I-95 in Brevard
County.
Thanks for joining us tonight.
I'm Luann Sorrell.

Speaker 11 (10:01):
And I'm John Brown.
We first told you about thisdeadly crash last month.
Three people in the car died,but the tow truck driver
survived.
Fox 35's Esther Bowers livenear the crash scene, so Esther,
the survivor, wants to spreadawareness to other drivers.

Speaker 12 (10:15):
John you Mara says people need to be very aware how
split second decisions theymake can change someone's life
forever.
He was on an off ramp, like theone you see behind me, getting
ready to tow a truck when heheard tires screeching and then
ended up pinned under the rack.
This white car crushed after ahigh-speed chase, killed three

(10:37):
people inside and severelyinjured John Umara.

Speaker 8 (10:41):
All I kept repeating to myself was oh, no, god,
please, no.

Speaker 12 (10:44):
John was pinned under the wreck and immediately
airlifted to a hospital, butthankfully he survived.

Speaker 8 (10:50):
I mean it's truly a blessing.
I definitely had somebodywatching over me.

Speaker 12 (10:55):
His road to recovery won't be easy.
He has several fractures in hisskull, constant neck and back
pain and his eyeglassprescription is different today
because of the impact of thecrash.
Eyeglass prescription isdifferent today because of the
impact of the crash.
Witnesses who took this videoof the car fleeing troopers
before the crash say they wereallegedly driving 100 miles per
hour on the highway One of theworst moments I had in my life.

(11:16):
John's wife, jennifer, hasn'tleft her husband's side.
He'll be out of work for months, so the family is thankful for
friends and community support.

Speaker 7 (11:25):
I feel like he's blessed.
I feel like he's lucky, blessed.
This is the best case scenarioout of this.
You know, worst case scenario.

Speaker 12 (11:33):
As for the driver, vernon Hodges is behind bars,
facing 17 counts, includingfelony murder, vehicular
homicide and DUI manslaughter.

Speaker 7 (11:43):
We've been working with the state attorney closely
to ensure that justice for allof the victims is done swiftly
and correctly.

Speaker 12 (11:51):
John plans to return to the job he loves when he's
better and hopes others will beaware and steer clear when you
see people on the side of theroad.

Speaker 3 (12:01):
Move over slow down.

Speaker 12 (12:03):
And officials tell us Hodges was a habitual traffic
offender with several DUIs.
At the time of this specificincident.
We're told he had a bloodalcohol content of .147 above
the legal limit.
The suspect's next court dateis set for May.
Reporting live in BrevardCounty Esther Bauer, fox 35 News

(12:24):
.

Speaker 11 (12:28):
There you go, folks, the most recent news on the
brand new Towing News channel.
I'll see you next week withmore information on the latest
news in our industry.