In honour of Slow Down Move Over Day in Saskatchewan and North America on Saturday, over 20 vehicles, including police cars, firefighter trucks and CAA tow trucks made their way down Ring Road in Regina. The group started from Thom Collegiate and travelled in a pack towards parking lot 1 at the University of Regina. “We’re honouring tow truck operators and emergency personnel, law enforcement and other roadside workers who take risks every single day when they’re out on our Saskatchewan roads and highways,” said CAA communications specialist Lona Gervais. Whenever a CAA vehicle is flashing blue and amber lights, it is the law that drivers must slow down to 60km/hour or less on Saskatchewan highways. According to CAA, nearly 100 truck operators are killed every year across North America. “We ask that you move over into the other lane,” Gervais said. “We should always try to move over into the other lane, but if it’s not safe, you should slow right down and give them as much room as possible to work.” Tow operator Stephen Romans has been driving for over a decade now. “On some highways, you don’t have two lanes of traffic going in the same direction. I’m on the shoulder that’s sometimes three feet wide up to say eight feet wide where a car can fit,” he said. “I’ll drop cones, but people are still cutting it extremely close to us on the side of the highway.” “If you just take that extra 30 seconds, 20 seconds to slow down, move over. Everybody wants to go home safe at the end of the day.” Romans recalls being in Alberta about 20 years ago, with a close call on the road while setting up pylons. “I had one where a guy took out every one of my pylons, and I had to dive in between the two vehicles because if not, it would have been me,” he said. “Then I found my pylon approximately eight kilometers down the road because it wedged underneath the vehicle and finally broke free.” The parade comes after an RCMP officer was almost struck on Oct. 8.
