JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Dozens of tow truck drivers drove across the Acosta Bridge to bring awareness to Florida’s ‘Move Over Law’ while honoring one of their own who died after being hit on the job.
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Austin Gayne was a 24-year-old tow truck driver who would work between Orlando and Jacksonville. In 2021, he and a mechanic were in the process of towing a dump truck when a car crashed into them in Orlando.
Gayne spent several weeks in the hospital before he died.
Carmie McInarnay works in the tow truck industry and she said deaths like that are preventable.
“It breaks my heart. It’s just very hard just knowing that our drivers are out there on the side of the road every day, it scares me,” McInarnay said.
McInarnay is passionate about Florida’s Move Over Law because she was hit by a car in 1995. She was on the road helping a friend out of their car after they had just been in a crash.
She had her leg amputated as a result.
According to AAA, from 2016 to 2020, an average of nearly 350 people per year were struck and killed while outside a disabled vehicle on the roadside.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, on average, two emergency responders, including tow workers, are struck and killed every month by a driver who fails to obey the law.
Over the weekend, a Volusia County deputy was in Deland responding to a crash when a van driving by hit the deputy. According to the Volusia Sheriff’s Office, the deputy is ok.
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The Move Over Law states that you must move over for all disabled vehicles displaying hazard lights, emergency flares, or emergency signage.
If you can’t do that, you need to slow down to 20 miles under the posted speed limit.
Previously, the law only required you to move over a lane for first responders, tow trucks, and other emergency vehicles.
The expansion of the bill is something Carmie says will help save lives.
“That’s somebody’s family, somebody loves them and we want to bring them home,” McInarnay said.
McInarnay said today was also a time for her to remember, Carlos Betancourt, a tow driver who she’d known for years but died in 2021 when he was hit by a driver.
People who participated in the event hope Gayne’s story and others who died similarly force people to follow the law and move over a lane for a stopped vehicle.