By Dominic Abassi

‘He ran for his life:’ car slams into tow truck working near Nanaimo Airport

Feb 28, 2019 | 12:01 PM

NANAIMO — The owner of a Nanaimo towing company is pleading with people to slow down and move over after one of his drivers narrowly avoided tragedy.

Central Island Towing’s Mark Kusznir said a car slammed into the back of one of his tow trucks around 6 a.m. Thursday as the driver was pulling a car from the ditch beside the southbound lanes of the Trans-Canada Hwy. in front of the Nanaimo Airport.

Kusznir said a car pulled into the slow lane to cut around a logging truck which did the right thing by slowing down and moving into the fast lane. Kusznir said his driver “ran for his life” before the car hit the back corner of the tow truck. Two other vehicles then crashed into the scene as well and the tow operator barely escaped injury.

“The worst feeling in the world is being on the side of the road with your back right against traffic changing a flat tire with trucks and cars going by you at 100 kilometres an hour, giving you literally two inches of room between your back and their bumpers,” he told NanaimoNewsNOW.

Kusznir called dangerous driving around tow trucks an epidemic.

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“There’s signs, there’s TV commercials, there’s all sorts of public information out there. I think people get into a zone when they’re driving. I don’t know if they’re texting or just not paying attention to what’s going on around them but it happens all too often.”

A tow truck operator is killed once every six days while working in North America, Kusznir said, referencing a Chemainus man killed on duty in a crash near Castlegar late last year.

“Be aware, if you see flashing lights on the side of the road, regardless of the colour, slow down, move over and give us room to work. We’ve all got families waiting for us to get home every night.”

Ladysmith RCMP have yet to respond to a request to find out if the driver of the car which hit the tow truck will face charges.

The highway was temporarily closed in the area.

dom@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @domabassi