ROGERS, Ark. — It can be a matter of life and death for anyone who has to pull over on the side of the road, especially along the interstate.
An Arkansas tow truck driver says that crews were responding to a driver who needed help on Interstate-49 Wednesday night near West Fork, when a car failed to move over and hit a driver who was waiting on the side of the interstate.
Arkansas law requires drivers to move over or slow down if they can’t change lanes when there are vehicles with flashing lights on the side of the road that belong to first responders, ARDOT workers, and tow truck drivers.
Arkansas State Police later reported that the victim, 20-year-old Wayne Simmons, had died.
“It's a matter of willpower— hit the brakes or get over. I'm not asking you to take twenty minutes out of your day. I'm asking you to save my life. I don't want to die out there, especially over a tire change,” said tow truck driver Shane Andreasen.
Andreasen has driven a tow truck for twenty years and feels that a lot of drivers don’t move over because they aren’t paying attention and are likely on their phones.
“Once I pop my door, and you are [looking down at your phone] it's over. The wind [from passing cars] has bent our doors forward. That's how close people get,” said Andreasen.
Andreasen says they typically see more people not paying attention when the weather is nice. He says when it’s raining or icy, people are typically more alert, but it’s still very dangerous for them and anyone on the side of the road.
“I purchased cones for the company, I order about three hundred a year, and sixty of them perish on the freeway. Because people run over these orange cones,” he said.
Washington County Lieutenant Bret Hagan says the move over law has been on the books for a decade, and it’s something they do enforce. He says in a lot of cases when they conduct traffic stops, the driver will sometimes tell them they were on their phone, or they were somehow distracted.
“There’s really no excuse— if somebody was working the scope of their duties, whether it be a tow truck driver, or fire or law enforcement. There's no excuse,” said Lt. Bret Hagan.
If a driver is found guilty of not following this law, they can be fined, sent to jail, and have their license suspended.
Watch 5NEWS on YouTube.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.