Towing News Now
Each week Wes Wilburn talks about the towing industry. In every episode Wes talks about the important events and latest information. Keep up to date with the latest newws stories in the towing industry.
Towing News Now
Cheaper Quotes Cost More When Safety Fails
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A heavy recovery can look “easy” right up until physics, ground conditions, and rushed decision-making cash the check. We walk through a real incident shared by Kentucky tow operator Josh Payne where a low-price plan, light cribbing, mismatched rigging, and zero willingness to reset led to a 60-ton wrecker tipping onto its side during a lift in unstable sand. Nobody was hurt, but the lesson is the kind you only want to learn from someone else: capacity is not the same as stability, and “possible” is not the same as “safe.”
Josh also brings a sharp business perspective from running multiple divisions, including towing, transport, exporting, and a smart after-hours fleet maintenance service that helps customers reduce vehicle downtime. We dig into why off-hours work can be a win for fleets, a win for employee earning, and a win for operational planning when your busiest towing window is daytime. If you care about towing business growth, heavy recovery planning, rigging standards, and professional service, you’ll get practical ideas you can apply immediately.
We close with towing news that reinforces just how dangerous roadside work can be: a sentencing in a repo driver killing, a tow operator injured when drivers fail to move over, and the real-world cost of impaired driving. We also highlight the Move Over and Slow Down initiative and spell out what motorists should do when they see flashing lights, whether it’s a trooper, a tow truck, or a stranded driver. Subscribe, share this with someone who drives for a living, and leave a review so more people hear the safety message.
Welcome And Host Check-In
SPEAKER_09Welcome on all to the Now podcast. A podcast dedicated to insightful interviews, news stories that affect the towing industry, and a weekly spotlight on towing supplies and equipment. We have two hosts. One of them has been in the business for 40 years. The other has charming wife of many years, who also is the general manager of product supply. No other than Wesley and April Wilburn. Wes and April, I turn it over to you.
SPEAKER_10Well, DJ, as always, I appreciate that warm introduction. I uh appreciate all you going to help telling industry and uh definitely appreciate you bringing me award on the f on these podcasts. So how how how are you doing this this fine summer day?
SPEAKER_09Well, just like everybody else that has the tooth in their mouth, believe it or not, I land up having a tooth coming out next week. So I I'm getting prepared for next week when they'll go in and take out a tooth that already broke. I wish I wish at 78 I wish I was losing my baby teeth. But it's it's really good and it's I'm glad to be with you guys today, and I know we got a great guest.
SPEAKER_08We do, we do have a great guest, and we can't wait to talk to him in the second segment.
SPEAKER_09All right, so April, how are you doing? Out of West asked me, How am I doing?
SPEAKER_08Well, I am doing pretty good. I'm ready to here today with my husband uh lock in. We're getting to rental downboard. So Oh my uh, but at least I'm in good company. So I know that we've um been working on some of the stuff pretty much intently as far as like getting these packages go.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, we you've definitely added a lot to the Tony Equipment Direct dot com website. Um folks if you haven't been on the website, you should go take a look. We put a lot of work into it. And together we put a lot of work into uh creating different packages for uh chains and shackles and whatnot. Right now we're working on a pro
Building Better Rigging Packages
SPEAKER_10series for uh tie down kits for light, medium, and heavy duty. Um we we got it real laid out, real nice, real competitive pricing, well well thought out equipment packages. So that that's what one of the things that's been keeping us busy, hasn't it?
SPEAKER_08It's been kept us busy and we've been working on that and we've been working on getting information out as well as as far as news, which is what this podcast is. And we've actually evolved our podcast that we're doing right now with the great AJ Harrington and Wes Wolburn and myself. Uh from what it was to officially uh Telling the News Now brought to you by or I'm sorry, brought to you from the uh Tony Equipment Direct.com uh studio. So we've been working really hard at revamping, evolving, but also maintaining our integrity as far as giving good product and good service out there um to the folks on the side of the road when they need it.
SPEAKER_10And it's given us a chance to really look at numbers, uh, ratings, working out limits, and uh giving all that uh uh getting that as in line with what makes sense financially for the equipment that that we're we're on these packages we're putting together. We're real proud selling all American product, which is getting harder and harder to do to source, but uh we we definitely if if at all possible offer a made in American uh alternative. Another thing with us doing most of this right here in our own shop, we can customize length on chain, etcetera. So it's uh it's been keeping me active and I'm appreciative for our different customers out there.
How To Reach Towing Equipment Direct
SPEAKER_08So with that with all that being said, when you're considering quality rigging, um don't hesitate to give us a call at 9107479000 or logging on to our website, telling equipmentdirect.com. Or you could you could uh VM us on Facebook too. We have a Telling Equipment Direct.com Facebook page as well as what's Roberta's page.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, we're also doing TikTok videos now. Uh uh, we talked about it something in the last week's episode with uh what Dave has been helping us with April 7th. Um so look for us on TikTok as well. Boy, the time has gone by. We probably need to take a quick break and come back. We got a great guest uh today. So um hang around. We'll be right back.
Meet Josh Payne Of Kentucky
SPEAKER_09Welcome back, listeners. Of course, you know you're coming from the towing equipment direct.com studios to the great podcast, Towing News Now podcast. We have a great guest for you, but before we introduce our guests, it's my job to remind you that April and Westbird Wilburn are available every week. And I hope and I I can't thank you enough. We have over 20,000 listeners on a regular basis. Make sure you download and listen. We're available on Spotify, iTunes, Pandora, Stitcher, iArt Media, Amazon, or wherever you get your podcast. And I'm going to tell you great customer service at towing equipmentdirect.com. So without further ado, let me pass you over to the great team of Wes and April Wilburn.
SPEAKER_10Thank you, DJ. Um today we have a guest. This is a tower out of Kentucky. I'll have him introduce himself in a second. I don't know for many years now. And he witnessed something the other day and wrote a this is very intelligent and frank post about what he witnessed from another tongue and all that. That's the main thing we're on today. We're going to talk about that. Um Josh, do me a favor, introduce yourself to our listeners.
SPEAKER_11Hello, I'm Josh Payne, owner and operator of Payne's Towing and First Choice Services out of Glasgow, Kentucky.
SPEAKER_10And tell us a little bit about your operation, Josh.
SPEAKER_11Um we're a small mom and pop operation based out of South Central Kentucky. Been in business for 25 years, um, first generation tow operator. Uh it's you know, children grow up. Some of them want to be firefighters, doctors, and lawyers, and for some reason I always wanted to run a tow truck, so here I am.
SPEAKER_10Um and tell so you tell us a little bit about the type of work you do. You actually go a fair amount of transport work, don't you?
SPEAKER_11We have uh we have several divisions in our company. Uh the mother company is first choice services, uh, and that company owns uh a transportation division, a towed actually we own five different towing companies combined into one. We own a fleet maintenance company. Um we maintain we we kind of got a a niche going on. Um we do a lot of um maintenance and minor repairs for fleets and in the twenty to twenty-five unit range, uh, but we do it after hours. So, you know, after five o'clock in the afternoon, uh we we bring in all these fleet vehicles and we service them and we drop them back off, kind of like the kind of like Santa Claus. We're there and and nobody knew we were ever there. But um another division is the transportation division, and that feeds into an export company that we also own. Um our company ships to 17 different countries. We ship everything from trucks, equipment, uh building materials, non-perishable foods. Um we ship to those 17 different countries. So our main uh route always lands in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and we export out of Port of Everglades. So I run basically anywhere in the United States. I mean, we buy we buy equipment and uh materials all over the United States and then we ship them down to the Port of Everglades and put 'em on a boat and ship 'em ship 'em to wherever, all across the the world. So that's uh that's another um division of our company. So that'd kind of give you an idea of what we do.
SPEAKER_10Man, you're a real husband. I say that in the best possible way.
SPEAKER_11Well, I greatly appreciate it.
SPEAKER_10That's a lot going on.
SPEAKER_08That is very impressive.
SPEAKER_09Hey, hey Wes, can I ask Josh a question that I know a lot of our listeners are sitting here saying, you know, maybe I could do that. Uh Josh, at nighttime when when how many years back did you start where at nighttime
After-Hours Fleet Maintenance Model
SPEAKER_09you you would bring in one or two, and now of course it expanded to more. But when did you think about that? Because this we have over 20,000 listeners, and some of these guys, they have a son-in-law or somebody who gets off at four o'clock from their regular job, and they come home and eat their food at the table, and uh, but at nighttime they could actually open up their place and do it. Uh, when did that concept come to you?
SPEAKER_11So that took place about two years ago, and uh the way it came in was I kept having employees that worked for me through the day that was always wanting to make a little extra money. You know, they they they weren't greedy and they it wasn't that they wasn't making enough, but they wanted that little extra, you know. They um I I like to tell people I don't want to see you get ahead. I w and I don't want to see you get by. I want to see you stay ahead and I want to see you rise, okay? I want to see you come to the top, all right. There's not a man that works for me that doesn't deserve to have a nice home, nice vehicles, be able to go on nice vacations, and be able to eat nice dinners with their family. That's exactly everything that I do, and I feel like that anybody that works with me, not works for me, but works with me, they should be entitled to to just as great a life as I have. So I've been blessed. I I expect them to be blessed. But back to your original question, the uh the folks that worked with me wanted to know, hey, how can I make some extra money? Well, I was watching my customers deal with the same problem that I was having. At nighttime, my trucks, I would roll them in and I would service them so when the guys had them out during the daytime, you know, majority of our business comes between seven in the morning and eight at night. So after eight at night, we're kind of not everything's on the road. Like I said, I'm in a rural area down here in south central Kentucky. So I was like, best time to service a truck and not take a chance on missing a call. It's gonna be after 8 p.m. at night till about six in the morning. And you know, I'm I'm in the shop already, I'm working on my stuff, and I'm thinking, hey, you know, I I'll toss this to a few of my customers, and it kind of seals the deal in the towing business. If I'm searching for a vehicle and you need a tow truck, you're gonna call me.
SPEAKER_09So I'm great thinking. Great thinking.
SPEAKER_08I think John, can I ask one question?
SPEAKER_09Yes, ma'am.
SPEAKER_08It's less it's also probably less disruptive for the business you're doing the service for, for you to do off hours too. So that is that benefits you because you have those hours in the in the night that you're not running calls and you can make this other income. It benefits them because your business is not disrupted with um getting something delivered, bringing something back.
SPEAKER_11Um everybody. The cell point that I I give to my customers, I don't have a large like I don't have a hundred fleets, okay? And I refuse to have a hundred fleets. I have twenty fleets, and each of those fleets needs to have less than twenty-five vehicles. And at any given time, there could be as many as twenty vehicles here at nighttime. So what I I I sell to my customer and how I sell it is is downtime on that, whether it's a bucket truck, whether it's a propane truck, you know, and and we're eventually where I would really like to reach out to is like rental car companies, okay? Because the rental car companies close at five o'clock in the afternoon. And after they close, those vehicles are sitting in their parking lot, and the next day somebody comes in and they have to run it up to the dealership or they have to run it down to the quickie lube.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_11Well, you're out not only the downtime of that vehicle being at the service center, but somebody took it there. So either you've got to pay that person to sit at the the lube station, or you gotta pay somebody to follow them there, pick them up, take them back. You know, there's your labor cost is higher. Now what our company offers is is we pick it up and we bring it back when we're done.
SPEAKER_10Wow, guys. So Josh,
The Low-Bid Lift That Tipped
SPEAKER_10uh tell me about the events of the other of the other day.
SPEAKER_11Oh are we talking about uh when the uh what you witnessed. Alright, so uh I had a I've got a customer, he's based out of Oklahoma, uh, contacted us to pick up a 744K uh down in Little Fort Miles at the I double A down there. Customer uh, you know, asked us to pick it up, we make arrangements um with uh with IAA and get on scene and um my customer wanted me to reach out to some of the local tow companies there and get some pricing. So I got some pricing for the customer, and they wasn't satisfied with what they heard. So they decided that maybe they need to start looking for somebody a little cheaper their self. So they did. They they found a cheaper solution for the problem that we had at hand, and and the problem that we had at hand is is uh we've got a very large uh piece of equipment and we're dealing with sand. There's this piece of equipment is sitting in sand, um unstable sand, it's not been packed, it's just it's you know, it's light dense. Um so this is at the salvage yard. Yes, this is at the salvage pool. So upon my request, I request that we bring two trucks in to handle this situation, you know, put a truck on each side of it, you know, balance that weight out, get us, you know, put us 50-50 on it, and and we're I feel comfortable in saying with the proper um rigging and the proper cribbage that I believe the situation can be handled. Customer on the other hand says, Hey, we have found somebody who is gonna do it drastically cheaper. So they uh they contract the company to come out to pick this thing up. They are gonna do it with one wrecker, a sixty ton wrecker with capacity, 120,000 pounds. Capacity of the 744, sixty to sixty-six thousand. Hey, it's it's possible that this can be lifted. So the company sends out a couple of drivers. We're gonna save that for right now. Um two gentlemen show up, pull out their they stretch out the boom, they start digging and looking for rigging, and might I add these two operators when they showed up. No uh no reflective, no uniform whatsoever, pair of ball shorts, pair of gym shorts. We're not gonna judge on the way they look, but we're also gonna say that it was not a very professional look. Um upon you know, they they assess the situation for about five minutes. And they start pulling the rigging out, they start pulling chains out, they got the D rings and they got a couple of endless loops, but they don't really have enough of both. So there's some endless loops, there's some chains, there's some clevises, mismatched clevises. There's a spreader bar in the toolbox on the front of this truck and uh that spreader bar uh at the back of the the machine when they they rigged it up, they used chains. Those chains went against the uh panels on the engine compartment. And this was a rougher machine, but it still had decent and it was it it had dignity to it. Um so they run their chains up the side of the machine and uh as the lift point come in, you know, of course it pulls that that A into place and uh I wasn't a fan of that. But for cribbing there was uh two four by sixes on each side of the on each stiff leg. And those two um four by sixes, as they started to lift on the passenger side, which would have been the heavier side of the machine, it was actually the front of the machine that you know had the bucket and majority of the cab. Um at a at their their load point and at their angle as they were lifting, the passenger side stiff leg um sunk to sunk in the ground. It you know, they were losing on the passenger side. So they lightened it up, leveled back out, no reposition, no rethought, no, hey, maybe we should add some curbage to this, maybe we should revamp this, do something a little bit different, continued on with the lift. Um, as they were lifting, and might I add, it was a touch on the windy side, like it was. We weren't dealing with no twenty mile an hour winds. We were probably dealing with some five, ten mile an hour deaths.
SPEAKER_10And people might people sometimes discount the um effect of wind, but that caused a side load. Milwaukee a few years ago.
SPEAKER_11Yes, so so wind is a factor. You know, in any recovery, any lift, it it is something that needs to be taken into consideration. And uh so as they lift it, um, you know, they were kind of walking. Lift the back, lift the front, lift the back, lift the front. Well they overlift it on the front. Load shifts, and as the load shifts, that new sixty-ton jurin on that new Peter belt came to a rest on its passenger side. Oh wow. Oh my.
SPEAKER_10So my customer did anybody get hurt?
SPEAKER_11Nobody no one got hurt. Every everyone was fine. Umlight damage, honestly, to the truck after it was set back up. Like once they got it set up, they had a couple of doors had damaged, they had a stack that had some dents in it. You know, I don't know about framewise because it went into a twist as it went down, so that's a possibility. The engine, uh, they shut the engine down before uh it set there on its side and and shut itself down. So after they uh
Why Cheap Pricing Raises Risk
SPEAKER_11after everything came to a settle and then and the machine the wrecker was actually placed back on its wheels, you know, damage was really at a minimum. But uh I um what I I gathered from start to finish on this this entire situation is and uh we deal with it every day. It is something that in the towing industry, like there's no way around it. The consumer um always wants the cheaper route. The consumer is always looking for I can get it cheaper. And cheaper never results in a perfect ending because okay, a couple factors that I see in being cheaper is this. You're cheaper, you're busier. You're busier, you anytime you are in a rush, something is gonna go wrong. Would anybody else agree with that?
SPEAKER_08Oh yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_11So you're cheaper, you're busier. You're busier, you're in a rush. You're in a rush, things are gonna get messed up. You charge fair pricing and you're not in a rush, everybody's on the same page. Hey, this could be a little expensive. But at the end of the day, you take your time, you establish what rigging you need that you don't have, you call for that rigging. You establish what cribbage you don't have, and you call for that cribbage. You establish that, hey, this would be a lot better job if we would just add a second truck to it. This would go a whole lot smoother and be a whole lot more efficient, and it would be done a little bit quicker. Not that it's in a rush, but those two trucks working together are gonna get that job a whole lot quicker than somebody rushing and laying a truck over on its side and not being able to complete the job. So my customer reached out and was looking for a number. And the towing company was looking more for a statistic. They wanted to be the one that got the call. They wanted to be in the percentage of saying we get majority of the calls. You get majority of the cost because you're cheaper, okay? But because you're cheaper, there's a loss of service. Once there's a loss of service, it doesn't matter. So a lot of times in our business, nobody factors in the cost of operation. Nobody factors in those guys that are running around in those really nice uniforms, driving those really nice trucks that have done hours and hours of training and set and they've they've listened, they went and sat in a classroom as well as they've been hands-on, face to face with casualties, those guys have got a lot invested in it. Those women also, I shouldn't just say guys, because there are also women in our industry, but those folks have a lot invested in it. And then when these fly by night guys who have magnets uh for DOT numbers and their name on the door of the truck, when they roll into town and they want to be that guy that can say, Well, we do majority of the calls.
SPEAKER_08Definitely get what you pay for sometimes, don't you, Josh?
SPEAKER_11Old buddy of mine told me one time he said, Good ain't cheap and cheap ain't good. Now I'm gonna tell you something. That's a hundred percent true. And you get what you pay for in this industry.
SPEAKER_10Thousand percent. All right, we're almost out of time.
SPEAKER_11Uh what I gather is this, um the the day of the the the situation with the truck on the side, I had two operators and one truck. The day of the the final setting of piece of equipment on the back of my truck, um, I had one operator, two riggers, two trucks. It cost a little bit more, but the job got done on the second day. So you're better off to just go ahead and spend a little extra and get it done right the first time.
SPEAKER_08That's a very excellent takeaway.
SPEAKER_10Guys, I want to thank you for taking time to be here. Um wanna uh hang around after we're gonna take a quick break. You wanna hang around and listen to the news with us? Cool, I'll listen. Alright, folks, we'll be right back.
Sponsors And Support Resources
SPEAKER_10This podcast is sponsored in part by Hazmat Resunder Network. Perry Beatty does great work with training hazmat situation. 877-356-9767.
SPEAKER_08An 800 number, period, is old school. That's our Perry.
SPEAKER_10Yep, he's the man. 877-356-9767.
SPEAKER_03The best towing companies offer a combination of great training, efficient operations along with quality supplies. Towing Equipment Direct is committed to help your towing company stay ahead of the competition by providing the best quality of towing equipment and supplies. Here's why you should choose towing equipment direct for all of your towing supply needs. We provide affordable towing supplies and equipment. All towing supplies and equipment are made from the latest technology, and we supply products from the most respected brands in the towing industry. If you're not using the latest towing equipment, there's a good chance your company has fallen behind. Savvy consumers can quickly tell which towing companies provide the best service. In many cases, the quality of your equipment and supplies can make a huge difference. Our representatives are knowledgeable in the towing industry, so for the best towing equipment and supplies, count on the team at Towing Equipment Direct. Browse our catalog online at towingequipmentdirect.com or give us a call at 910-747-9000. That's 910-747-9000. We look forward to serving you.
SPEAKER_09Welcome back, listeners. Of course, we're coming from the Towingequipment Direct.com studios. I want to remind all of you, please like and review and share everywhere. We thank you very much for telling fellow towers and recovery personnel about this podcast, the Towing News Now podcast. We appreciate each and every one of you. If you have an association and you want to put association news on the podcast, uh the hotline number is 706-409-5603. And let me pass it on over to Wes for some sad news. Wes, it's yours.
Remembering Industry Leader Dick Stearns
SPEAKER_10Unfortunately, I I have to report to you that we lost a good friend this this past week. Friend of the industry, a friend if if you knew Dick, who was a friend as well. Dick Stearns, a uh Korean War veteran and uh gas station slash coing service operator, who after after that retirement got involved with Totten and served as president of Totom for years. Dick passed away at at the right old age of 95 years old. Uh Dick and his wife Millie represented Totoms at the Toe Show for decades all over the country. Traveled around. Dick uh sold memorabilia as well, kind of in the second life. H his his uh first life, he was a had a gas station operated there in Massachusetts. And when I started collecting the old automotive magazines, I found a uh ad with uh snowplows on me and uh he was a dealer for. Put a picture of him and he it was funny seeing him as a twenty five year old young man in a service station in his ad. But uh tech was real good people his wife Millie s is survived he Millie survived. Um real good people. So we were saddened by it by the passing. I tell you when we moved the museum in the downtown Chattanooga location to where it is today. There was a group of us that assembled there for about ten days and Dick was one of them and he was I had to been in the sixties, middle sixties at that point, and he was helping move boxes and everything else.
SPEAKER_08I'm gonna tell you one of the things that stands out to me is that he was married for seventy-five years. It's incredible.
SPEAKER_10And anybody that knew Dick and Millie Millie is a thing who put up with him for seventy-five years.
SPEAKER_08So in lieu of flowers, uh donations can be made to the Cure Alzheimer's fund. Um apparently Millie's got Alzheimer's, so um if um anybody's interested in donating two dollars on the fund that would be in his honor, that would be um great. And now we're gonna move on to our
Violence And Impairment On The Road
SPEAKER_08news of the day. And our first um we're gonna listen to this one video this one video um where Warren Sayo was sentenced to 55 years in prison for shooting a a repo driver and killing him in 2023.
SPEAKER_10This happened in Alabama. And um we're glad the case is resolved.
SPEAKER_16The 50-year-old was found guilty earlier this year. Chow claimed self-defense during a truck repossession, but evidence showed he went out of his way to grab a rifle with a silencer, knowing he was behind on his payments. Prosecutors say Shao appeared uninterested during his trial and sentencing.
SPEAKER_12He also today uh one time said he was sorry. It's very passive language. Things could have been different. He's not sorry for his choices. He's sorry that his choices have led to him being locked up in the Department of Corrections.
SPEAKER_16The victim's family says they are pleased with this sentence and justice is served for Click's death.
SPEAKER_10The next story reminds everybody just how dangerous it is out there on the side of the highway.
SPEAKER_14A Capitol Region tow car driver is recovering after he was injured while working on the North Wave Friday night. News ten Zamber Fisher spoke with his employer who says it's a reminder of just how dangerous the job can be.
SPEAKER_19This dash cam video captures the moment from inside Brian Watson's tow truck. The crash happened off camera, but you can hear it. State police say a car slammed into the disabled vehicle that was getting towed, pushing it onto the bed of the tow truck before it rolled off on its side.
SPEAKER_15It was a mess. There was a car rolled over into traffic, and a lot of debris uh and the energy was just down. It was very dramatic.
SPEAKER_19Moments before the accident, you can see multiple cars speed by without moving over.
SPEAKER_15And slow down, move over, and drive safely.
SPEAKER_19Troopers arrested him for DWI after he recorded a blood alcohol level of 0.08. He's due in Colony Town Court on August 3rd. As for the tow truck driver, he has been with us for a few years now.
SPEAKER_15He's humble, he's kind, and he's a hard worker.
SPEAKER_19Emma Kirsten, the Director of Operations for Capitol District towing, says that Brian is expected to make a full recovery and that he was just released from the hospital. Co-workers have set up a GoFundMe to help with his medical expenses. Head over to News10.com for more information. In Albany, Amber Fisher, News 10, ABC.
SPEAKER_10So uh it it just boggles my mind in this day and age that anybody would get a DWI with rideshare and whatnot. It just boggles my mind.
SPEAKER_08Or kind of eight 18,000 different apps you can get on your phone for rideshare, but you sort of get behind that, we don't do that.
SPEAKER_10So it boggles my mind that people would get a DUI in an automobile. It really boggles my mind that people would get a DUI in a commercial motor vehicle. The next story will tell uh unfortunately tells that tale.
SPEAKER_18A local tow truck driver is in custody tonight accused of driving drunk, hitting and killing a motorcyclist, and seriously hurting three other people. That crash happened at the intersection of Capitol Boulevard and Stray Wick Road about 2 30 this morning.
SPEAKER_00A CBS 17 sneaker found out the driver has a history of driving drunk.
SPEAKER_04According to state records, Alan Guerro. Alan Guerro. 39-year-old Alan Giero is accused of driving drunk early Friday morning, causing a deadly crash at the intersection of Capitol Boulevard and Trayvick Road. Police dispatch audio provides some details moments after the crash. 35-year-old motorcyclist Chandler Hodge died at the scene. One other motorcyclist and two people in a sedan were injured. When police say Guiero ran a red light, colliding with the vehicles.
SPEAKER_02We got an injection. We've got one injection. And we've got one person out of the car.
SPEAKER_04This is not the first time Alan Guiero has been accused of driving while impaired. Warrants show he served 90 days in jail in May of 2025 after he was arrested for a DWI. In April 2024, Guiero's Towing Company, 6G's Towing and Recovery, has an active website and made posts on popular apps like Nextdoor and Yelp. Just two weeks ago, we knocked on the business doors on Mitchell Mill Road, but nobody answered. We also spoke to the family of Ken La Hodge. They are asking for privacy at this time. Raleigh, I'm Sheila Kabir, CBS 17 News.
SPEAKER_10Of course, everybody's innocent until proven guilty. Um this incident happened about 70 miles from where we live, so it was in our media market, so to say. And they made it was uh a lot of uh attention was paid to it. Uh April April's got a story to tell you about some good things going on in the Midwest.
Move Over Law And Real Consequences
SPEAKER_10Uh trying to be proactive.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, this is and I think they've been doing this for uh a few years, and this is ongoing right now, so at the time that this is recorded, this is already going to be something that's happened. But I I feel like we should still talk about it. It's called the Six State Cooper Project. And uh six states are participating in deaths. Uh Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and West Virginia.
SPEAKER_01Driving distracted can turn a routine traffic stop into a deadly situation. That's why Indiana State Police want to remind you to move over for emergency vehicles. Now it's takes WSPT 22's Nick Outhoff with a first hand look at the dangers troopers face along the highway.
SPEAKER_17This week, six states across the Midwest are taking part in the Move Over and Splowed On Law Initiative campaign reminding drivers to move over on the side of the road for first responders.
SPEAKER_05The whole purpose of this is every year, there's usually unfortunately an accident where people are not paying attention on the roadways. They do not move over, which causes crashes.
SPEAKER_17Indiana State police are just one of six police agencies across the Midwest participating in the move over law initiative that we adopted the law after an Indiana State trooper was killed back in 1997.
SPEAKER_05I've had it happen before too, where we've had violators outside of the vehicle and we're speaking with them, and almost they've gotten hit to the point where these people just they're just not agitated.
SPEAKER_17So, like I said, it's not always something malicious, but they're not surrounding the if you see any disabled vehicle with its header lights flashing along the highway, you need to move over to the next slide. If you can't, you need to accelerate at 10 miles per hour. That's even an effect of broken down vehicles and tow truck. If you don't move over, you couldn't even expect a ticket to be first and the consequences of what drivers will face if you don't move forward for first spotters on the roadway.
SPEAKER_05That uh toe truck is on the side of the road, we gotta move over. Okay, it's it's it's a move over on the I can't tell you the amount of traffic stops that I've had where it's been an investigation, and I see vehicles that are not moving over, and I can see them coming my way, and I have to take my focus off of the car and the violator that I have to focus on that so I know that I'm not going to be hit. But sometimes that's not always ideal.
SPEAKER_17Indiana State Police say it only takes one time not to move over for first responders and have an accident occur. And Bremen, I'm Nick Althoff, WSPT 22 News.
SPEAKER_08I just want to say one thing real quick about that because I think we think that this goes without saying the move over slow down. We know everybody knows what it means. Some people probably don't if you're not in the telling industry. Exactly. It means the move over part is to change a lane into an adjacent lane away from the stopped vehicle if possible. Or and and or slow down if a lane change isn't possible, slow down between ten and twenty miles per hour is what they're recommending. Obviously you can slow down a little more than that if you wanted to, but that's what the slowdown move over to find.
SPEAKER_10And it's one of those situations it takes everybody out there paying attention and doing those things to help make a difference. I'm told out of our twenty thousand listeners, uh subscribers rather for the podcast. Matter of fact, if you haven't done it, like the podcast, share it, subscribe, we'd really appreciate it. Um out of our twenty thousand listeners, there's probably a certain percentage of over-the-road uh truck drivers. The the big consumer podcast. So if you are an over-the-road truck driver listening, do me a favor, do America a favor. Be an example of slowdown and move move over when you see anybody on the side of the road. And uh anybody from the broke down motors to the big major prepares for scene, whatever it is. Alright, well, we've had a pretty complete podcast as far
Final Thanks And Stay Safe
SPEAKER_10as I'm concerned. I want everybody to remember for your your training needs, ATRI training division. Their phone number is 636-800-2874. Let me repeat. Um, I want to thank everybody. And I want everybody listening. I want to thank y'all. Most of all, without y'all, none of this is possible. Everybody be safe and we'll see you next week.