MORGAN COUNTY, Ind — A near-death experience has local tow truck driver’s rallying around one of their own. They are planning a caravan down I-465 to raise awareness for move over laws.
Brian Wagaman was about to load a car onto his tow truck when he was hit by a driver on I-69. The accident sent his tow truck flying, and totaled the oncoming car. Wagaman says he and the other driver survived the accident.
“Ambulance came and told me it was another vehicle that hit me going full speed on the highway,” said Wagaman.
Wagaman is a local Tik Tok sensation. His half-a-million Tik Tok followers get a daily glimpse into his life on the job.
“People seem to identify with what I do. I just be myself, and for some reason people like it,” Wagaman explained. “My first instinct was to get the video camera out and record in case I don’t make it. There would be evidence of what happened to me, so I could tell somebody. I finally have a voice that I can use for good.”
The Tik Tok hit home for tow truck drivers around the country, and here in Indy. It prompted a fellow driver to form the caravan for raise awareness for the move over laws in Indiana.
“The current law is tow truck drivers are considered emergency vehicles in the state of Indiana. You are to slow down and move over. If you can’t move over, then you are supposed to at least slow down to 20 mph under posted speed limit,” said Chuck McGinnis, a fellow tow truck driver and organizer of the caravan. “I don’t know how to tell you how many times I’ve gotten out, and almost gotten hit since I put one foot on the ground. That’s my life, everybody else’s life that does my job, and even construction workers. We have had quite a few construction workers killed.”
“Tow truck drivers all across the entire nation just flooded the comments section of the Tik Tok with stories of when they have been in close calls or been hit. A lot of widows contacted me because they lost their husbands,” added Wagaman.
Both Wagaman and McGinnis would like to see legislators allow them to have blue and red lights on their trucks to mimic other first responders.
“Texas they are allowed to use red and blues facing the rear only,” explained McGinnis.
“We have amber lights, and a lot of Indiana is desensitized by them because of all the construction we have been going through,” said Wagaman. “Missouri, they are allowed to run blue lights, and from what I understand from their truck operators, they have had great success.”
The caravan will leave the Marion County Fairgrounds at 3 pm on July 31st. Drivers are asked to show up between 1 pm and 2 pm. There will be a cook out and fireworks show after. The organizers are asking for a $20 dollar donation for tow trucks, and a $10 dollar donations for cars. The proceeds will go toward funding the caravan. Any remaining money will be given to the Riley Children’s Hospital and Peyton Manning’s Children’s hospital.
