You want to make sure you can read . I know how to read some letters . None of the squiggly ones , though they're tough . The straight lines not so bad .
Speaker 2I'm pretty good with the straight ones yeah , yeah , yeah .
Speaker 1You start throwing those W's and U's at you and Z's , and you're just Well , the W's are still straight lines . That one depends .
Speaker 2What does it depend on ?
Speaker 1If you do the straight line W's or the woobly dooblies .
Speaker 2You don't do woobly dooblies , it's straight lines .
Speaker 1No , capital is straight lines . Little one is woobly dooblies . No , it's just a little . You've never made a W with round bottoms .
Speaker 2No , it's always pointed you owe .
Speaker 1Hmm , the great debate of 2024 . If you do your W's with woobly booblies or straight lines , If you type it into the keyboard , it's straight lines .
Speaker 2There is no woobly booblies . We've made up a word . There is no woobly dooblies on the W's . Hey everyone , I'm Brad from Calgary .
Speaker 1This is Sean from Cambridge , Ontario . I'm .
Speaker 2Terry from Cornwall Ontario .
Speaker 1Hey , this is Larry from Pitt Meadows , british Columbia , and you're listening to the Towing Life Podcast . Metals , british columbia , and you're listening to the towing life podcast .
Speaker 2Let's solve this debate who the fuck are you calling ? She's not gonna answer shit .
Speaker 1Hello , hey , I got a question . Okay , when you draw your w's , are they straight lines or with woobly dooblies at the bottom of them ? Like they're rounded yes , with woobly dooblies . They're also known as rounded . Yes , you don't draw W's with straight lines , right ?
Speaker 2I mean , I don't , some people do .
Speaker 1You're taught to do it that way . You're taught to do it straight line or woobly booblies Straight . Oh then why do we do woobly dooblies ? Because people are accustomed to the way that they write , Just like Y's are not straight some people do a loop at the bottom yeah , those people are way too floofy for my likings . Well , you're married to one , so you're the perfect amount of floofy for my likings . Thanks for the sound clip . Oh , awesome , love you bye . You walked right into that one , thanks for the sound clip .
Speaker 2Oh , awesome , love you . Bye , bye , you walked right into that one bud .
Speaker 1Yeah , I should have known better . I should know how she does her whys . What am I thinking ?
Speaker 2Welcome to the Towing Life podcast , where the ditches are deep , the trucks are loaded , but the drivers are not . I'm your host , Tome Angie , and , as usual , I'm joined by my co-host , friend and former co-worker , the man with very strong opinions , Mr Plain Guy .
Speaker 1What is going on ? G . What is going on ?
Speaker 2Oh , we go from recording early in the morning to late at night , so I'm sleepy this time , and not for the reason that I just woke up . Late at night , it's 8 , it's 9 o'clock . Yeah , I'm normally in bed at this time . I'm like an old man , I don't make it past Jeopardy .
Speaker 1What is it that you have going on right now that has got you not being able to sleep in ?
Speaker 2I just always have been in the routine of getting up at 5 am , regardless of what I got going on . Today was 6 am , but still .
Speaker 1It was Sunday , he slept in a bit . Yeah , I'm yawning , as we're actually , as you're doing that intro , so I guess I'm no better . We're going to be feeding off each other this entire time , just yawning back and forth , and it's a shame because we have such great things to go over in today's show .
Speaker 1Yeah , if you're looking at my eyes on youtube . I'm not high , I'm just tired because they are slits right now . Yeah , so , um , like you said , welcome to another episode of the tone life podcast , episode 149 . Um , as you know , that means that , uh , next sunday , or , depending when you're watching this sunday , uh , august 25th , at 6 pm Eastern , we will be doing our live episode , episode 150 , celebrating three years providing countless hours of entertainment Well , about 150 hours of entertainment to each and every one of you that listen to the show week in , week out . So we do appreciate
you coming out .
Speaker 1Any questions , comments , concerns you have for the show or , in advance , want to send us for the live show , you can find us at wwwtowinglifeca , email us at thetowinglife at gmailcom or find us over on facebook at the towing life podcast , or , if you're watching over on the youtube side , you can always leave a comment down below .
Speaker 1We will be sure to get to them . Um , the lives . If you haven't before seen them , they are on YouTube as well as Facebook . You have the option to comment live right on it . We do actually monitor actively monitor the chat during the live show , so be sure to get your questions , shout outs , companies , whatever you want to promote onto the show , send it through on our live episode Again that is sunday , august 25th , at 6 pm eastern 3 pm on the west coast , and double check where that is anywhere in between those two , because I'm not gonna give you the time for all six or seven times or I guess four or five time zones we have in this country oh and we were talking about the uh tipping last , uh last episode and one of our listeners said you should set up like a donation button .
Speaker 2But you can donate to us on the stream . I'm pretty sure over on youtube you can give us like a super thanks or whatever it's called over there .
Speaker 1I didn't address that because I got the . I got the same message sent to me . I think pretty sure he copy pasted the message between us , um , because I don't think it was to the page . But anyways , um , we always appreciate them , regardless if you have us personally on social media or not . Um , and I thought about that . I said you know what ? It is something that we would probably set up , and I'll tell you this will be the only time that we'll talk about setting it up , because the reason is is that I do not want to promote that like I have no desire as part of our intro and part of our regularly .
Speaker 1You know stuff that we make sure to get out to our listeners , want to promote . And don't forget , you can tip us over at . No , they're here for the entertainment . If you want to leave a tip , if you want to donate , I'm sure you can find a way to do it . It doesn't necessarily have to be through a tip button . You can reach out . I'm sure you can find a way to do it . It doesn't necessarily have to be through a tip button . You can reach out to us . Hey , I love you guys , I love g . I'm gonna send them five dollars . Gee , how do I send you five dollars ? Right like we're not looking to um panhandle or cater to that kind of um stuff . So , yes , there may be a button that gets put into the show , into future episodes , but it'll be the only time you'll ever hear me promote it , because I do not do this show for the money . If I did , I would not no longer be doing this show .
Speaker 1But yes , you know what ? Hey , come to the Ontario toe show coming up in September . Buy us a beer . There's the tip button . You don't even need a tip button , right ? Buy g some marshmallows so he can roast them by the fire in his trailer that he's hauling . Send me some peanut butter jelly sandwiches . So in case this , the the food truck food is crap at the tow show . I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches . Just don't make it with strawberry , that's's junk . Mcdonald's has a new s'more McFlurry .
Speaker 2Yeah , s'mores McFlurry . It's actually pretty good . It's got a bit of hot fudge in it and a lot of little . It kind of tastes like the marshmallows out of Lucky Charms . Okay , mixed in with it with some crunchy graham crackers , it's actually pretty good .
Speaker 1I'm surprised they didn't do like I don't know if we have that in canada or if it's just . Like a americans , we eat everything that like marshmallow spread like it's like marshmallow in a jar .
Speaker 2No , I've never even heard of you've never heard of this stuff .
Speaker 1No , oh , I haven't tried it and anyone who watching the show who has tried it ? Um , you have to tell us if it's actually good .
Speaker 2Look up fluff marsh or marshmallow fluff I will when my internet stops shitting the bed okay , that is fair .
Speaker 1How about I'll do you one better . I'll present a screen that I have it on . Um chrome tab . Marshmallow in a jar . So this is marshmallow in a jar . It's marshmallow fluff . Do you see my screen ? I don't know if you can actually see my screen . Oh , you can't actually see my screen . No , do we have to ? How do we ? Oh , here we go . I did this tapes . There we go ah , this is marshmallow in a jar um um nutritional facts welcome to the toying life podcast everyone no , you , you've got me for 100 grams .
Speaker 1Oh , that's just marshmallow . I want marshmallow fluff . There we go . Marshmallow fluff . Nutritional facts two tablespoons is wow , this is a very good . It really shows nothing . Six grams of sugar . It's 12 grams . It's six grams of sugar . Is that a lot ? It's half . Half of it is sugar . Oh yeah , like it's half yeah sugar includes six grams of added sugars .
Speaker 1You don't say um , yes I guess that is a lot I'm surprised they didn't use that stuff as the uh , like that kind of stuff instead , like the little hard marshmallows those little hard marshmallows that came in lucky charm sucked . I said what I they're pretty good . You thought they were pretty good . Back when I was like 10 , eating Lucky Charms , when was the last time you had a bowl of Lucky Charms .
Speaker 2Oh , it's probably been over a decade now . At this point I used those Reese's Puffs were the shit back in the day .
Speaker 1Yo , I would still kill a bowl of those if we were ever going to eat those .
Speaker 2It makes your milk turn chocolatey and you delicious . Now we get all these anti-fun cereals for adults Make your teeth rot out of your mouth , but it's worth it .
Speaker 1It's worth it . Okay , enough of the food . You know what we do get off pace quite regularly on this show , but 90 of the time that we get off pace is food yeah and I think people in our industry and other operators that are listening can relate to the food side of things . Listen , we're in our trucks , we're on the road constantly . Right , there's two things that we're good at towing cars and eating food and some of us are only good at one of those things .
Speaker 2Are we turning the towing world podcast into a food eating podcast , or are we just doing a separate branch ? We don't have enough time for two podcasts , so one of them is going to have to stay . One of them is going to have to go .
Speaker 1Well , we'll let the fans decide . But yeah , like I said , we're good at two things driving tow trucks and eating food , and I've met a lot of operators that are only good at one of those two , so I wasn't pointing you out specifically for the record . So , no , we did have a great episode to get into . We will start off . Actually , g , you had something that you wanted to share right away with on behalf of who again ?
Speaker 2Well , the names at the top of the screenshot there the all ms msp tow providers . It's from statewide towing association inc . Of massachusetts . Yes , I can't actually say that state's name without doing the slander term I had no idea there was a slander term , but okay yeah , massachusetts massachusetts . Okay so I'm gonna have to make this full screen so I can actually read it , because I got you a screenshot in 20
.
Speaker 1In 2022 , the massachusetts legislator legislation less legislator passed a law to require all state contractors' vehicles to be equipped with vulnerable user protection devices effective January 1 , 2025 . The Registry of Motor Vehicles was tasked with drafting regulation as to the type of equipment required and which vehicle would be required to install this equipment . The RMV did not release the proposed regulation until mid 2024 . Oh , you sound like our government ? Yeah . At which time , STA filed comments regarding the lack of exemption for towing equipment and the unfeasibility of installing this equipment on towing equipment .
Speaker 1Sta and our lobbyists have also reached out to legislators , state agencies and other associations whose members will be affected by these regulations . To date , there have been no changes to the proposed regulations . Sta is still actively advocating for an exemption for towing equipment . This means that unless the proposed regulations are amended , all MSP tow service providers will be required to install the required equipment on all their vehicles by january 1st 2025 . The estimated cost to install the required equipment on a towing vehicle is six thousand to eight thousand dollars per vehicle . Required equipment is as follows backup cameras . What's a crossover mirror ?
Speaker 2so those are the front mirrors on the vehicle that will show you in front of the bumper . It's the same mirrors that are on like school buses .
Speaker 1Oh okay , the hood bump , the hood mirrors .
Speaker 2No , not hood mirrors . Those are normally convex mirrors that show the sides of your vehicles . These are to protrude out from the hood like three feet and show you your whole front bumper .
Speaker 1Oh , to make sure you're not running over small children , okay , yeah , convex mirrors which would be your hood mirrors for the most part , or most , trucks have a convex also built into the um , like toe mirrors , lateral side guards with a maximum ground clearance of 13.8 inches . Yeah , like the bumper cars on the wheels like the bumper covers , I'm assuming so .
Speaker 1In addition , aftermarket modifications or accessories such as bug deflectors , chrome visors and bull bars are prohibited and must be removed . In order to accurately identify the scope of the impact of the number of msp towing companies who will not be able to meet the new requirements , sta is asking all msp towing service providers to answer a two-question survey . The survey is anonymous and we ask that there only be one response per company .
Speaker 1So so the state is implementing new requirements on state regulated vehicles yep and the towing and the tow trucks are falling within that classification by the sounds of it .
Speaker 2So for the uh lateral side guards . What I'm pulling up is , you know , those uh like skid rails on the side of trucks to cover up any blank space no , so you know how some of the dry box vans have those like cardboard pieces of shit that hang down low for aerodynamics .
Speaker 2Yeah making sure can get underneath of it the same right . So what this is actually doing ? I've pulled up uh umass amherst college of engineering . They put out a post about this . What is vulnerable road users ? Massachusetts now defines vulnerable user on the roads to include people walking and biking , roadside workers , people using wheelchairs , scooters , skateboards , roller skates and other micro mobility devices , horse-drawn carriages and farm equipment devices . Horse-drawn carriages and farm equipment . Um , so it also includes safe passing for motorists . Um , you need to provide a safe passing distance of at least four feet when passing vulnerable road users .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , so anytime we have that , it's three feet I think in ontario I could be wrong um rear red light requirement for bicyclists for riding at night which is good .
Speaker 2Safer speed limits which just drops speed limits down from 30 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour , which kind of sucks . Crash reporting truck safety devices , which is what we're talking about . Backup cameras this requirement will do some of the tragic right hook fatalities we've seen in recent years Right .
Speaker 1No , tragic right hook fatalities we've seen in recent years . Right now it'll register .
Speaker 2The register shall also prohibit aftermarket accessories that obstruct , obstruct visibility or endanger vulnerable users . So does your boom in your back window that obstructs that visibility actually count ?
Speaker 1no , but that's why they're going after the bug deflectors , chrome visors and the bowl bars . The bowl bars are probably more , because they have an option of sticking out and hooking somebody yeah um , that's walking by , I guess , or that you can hook on a as you're making a corner .
Speaker 1I mean , it's a little excessive . Yeah , like backup cameras for the amount of times that we back up and for safety and with most vehicles coming equipped with them , non-tow truck vehicles , meaning , you know , this is , I'm sure , for , like state , um highway pickup trucks , um crash trucks , that kind of stuff , right , utility trucks and all that it makes sense for towing , though tell me why it doesn't , tell me why it doesn't make sense to to have a mandatory backup camera for safety with the amount of times that you're backing around and and into place . It's not , you know , the crossover mirrors .
Speaker 2I , I can't , I , I understand it they're ugly as fuck and I don't know 100 the cost that comes with this is is crazy .
Speaker 1Um , I can see why they're um , you know why they're upset about it , but I know the crossover mirrors on showing on a bus are literally those hood mirrors . They're just wider angled hood mirrors , but a hundred percent like . Obviously there's been an increase in accidents in Massachusetts or you know , vulnerable people struck and killed . I mean , we have it all the time . Ontario too , I guess there's not a bad enough problem yet that they want to to bring in that kind of stuff . But keep fighting . This is why your associations are important . Right , you're seeing this in moments right now . We just currently went that kind of stuff .
Speaker 1But keep fighting . This is why your associations are important . Right , you're seeing this in moments right now . We just currently went , like we just recently went through it um , down here in ontario . Because you need a unified voice when it comes to those um , to those issues . You need somebody who is speaking on your behalf , not three different people or independent toe operators that are pushing their mouth off where they really shouldn't be even if it's not shooting your mouth off , right ?
Speaker 1one person having a an objection to something and then turning out that 5 , 10 , 20 , 30 , 40 , 50 , 100 , 200 , 500 , 000 have the same problem or objection . But if only one person writes a letter and complains about it , nothing's going to happen .
Speaker 1If your association , which speaks for a large volume of your towers , I hope will hopefully in massachusetts says something , it might carry a little bit of weight . Right , the us associations are no joke , right , ontario has had a bit of a gong show when it's come to associations over recent times , but the american ones what I heard are fairly strong and fairly unified . So if there's anyone that can fight it , so if you're down in massachusetts and I and I know we do have listeners down there be sure to check out your association , be sure to support them and be sure to get that unified voice across to you know , there is items on here that I think should be mandatory or could be mandatory . I think having all of them is getting a little uh , is a little ridiculous . But you can make some changes with your government If you can . You know , get to the right people and and work together . That's something that we're hoping for . What's that ?
Speaker 2I really don't like the fact that they're trying to get rid of bush guards to like protect your investment from like deer and stuff Right .
Speaker 1Protect your investment from like deer and stuff . Let's be honest , you put a bush bar almost call it something else but you put a bush bar in any of your pickup trucks to save you from an animal . No , I'm not saying that . That's not what they can be used for . The problem is 95% of them aren't . I got transports going down the road with rabbit bumpers but the first thing they hit bigger than a rabbit is gonna write this bar off the front of it and not save a goddamn thing on the truck . So don't tell me it's about . You know they're , unfortunately . You're like the person that gets a that you know has a service dog that isn't actually a service dog , but says it could be a service dog and I'm allowed it . That's the same argument . Get that shit out of here .
Speaker 2No , I'm just the person that drives around with my trailer , hitch in all the time . In case someone so , do I so do I ?
Speaker 1only because when we bought the truck we didn't get the lock for the pin lock , the key for the pin lock , and I haven't have to take the edge out there and I've definitely banged my shit off it multiple times . But no legislation change is a is a pain in the ass , and especially when the people are writing the legislation aren't living the day to day of the companies in which they're enforcing it on . Right , we're , we're gonna , we're gonna get into that a little bit . We're , we're going to get into that a little bit . We're running into that situation .
Speaker 1Right now I am in a situation where I cannot hire a new employee . Not that I cannot hire a new employee , I can hire whoever I want . The problem is is I've reached out with this new requirement that we have for mandatory training , and I've reached out and I've written a letter to the government and I have shared it so to see who else is in the same boat as I am , where the government requires that before an operator can drive a tow truck in the province , he must complete mandatory training . Problem I have the mandatory training , the hands-on portion .
Speaker 1The next available course that I had currently available was probably because they haven't even confirmed it for four weeks away yeah , over four weeks away . They can't tell me where . So which means , if I were to hire a guy today , I've got four weeks before he can drive a tow truck , before I can fully evaluate his capabilities as an operator , not even saying that he can drive , you know , in a closed circuit , so in our yard , but he cannot drive a tow truck on the road by himself , or with somebody for that matter . He's not allowed to drive until he he completes his basic requirement . It's become unrealistic .
Speaker 2Hey , bob , you want a job ? Yeah , sure , I'd love a job . All right , perfect . Let me put you down in a classroom . You'll do six hours worth of classroom training there and then I'll see you in four to six weeks . You're not getting paid for that , by the way , because I can't afford that and you're not making me money . In four to six weeks , I'm going to send you to this training course that cost me a bunch of money , and then we can even see if you're cut out for this or if you even like it . Um , please don't find another job in that four to six weeks , because you need to make money and I get that , but I would like you to work for me , bob yep , yep , that's 100 the spot I'm in .
Speaker 1I don't even know what I'm gonna go tell this guy he interviewed . Well , I think you make a great candidate , and so I reached out to find when the next available training was , and I got told over four weeks away .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1So now , what do I do ? Hey , keep working where you're working . I promise I will hire you . I'm not sure to work out , you know . And no , that's not how we're doing it . They're paying the training course . How we're doing it they're paying the training course .
Speaker 1We'll pay it up front and they can , uh , and they can pay us back in installments , because I'm not . I'm not paying for bob to go for a thousand dollar course and then you know , get it and hang around for a week and then screw off . Can't do that , no . So yeah , I'm absolutely hand tied on being able to bring in new workers . Now , the unintended side effect that came with that that no one really thought about , you think that changes your mind when you're coming to fire an operator ?
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1Now that could be good or bad . Right , it could help , maybe help , you know , it could stop some people from just absolutely taking advantage of their operators . But whenever you have a situation where you absolutely are on the verge that you go . I've got to let this person go , but , holy god , am I going to be short because I can't hire a replacement .
Speaker 1Like the towing industry was already very hard to hire for , we've just made it 100 times harder yeah we've absolutely made it 100 times harder to be able to and I'm not just talking about quality candidates any candidates the price point for the training .
Speaker 2Okay , we can get over that , we can work on that , we can figure out ways to , like you said , competition will come into the industry .
Speaker 1Price will take care of itself . Yeah , but the availability , because only two companies right now are offering this training currently at the time of writing my letter and , as far as I'm aware , um there's only like currently there's only two providers , that is rec master and that is uh caa south central ontario yeah those are the two that are available . I'm going to go check their website as we speak , and no , there are still only two available .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1So my understanding , CAA South Central Ontario and I have not confirmed this are only offering that training to CAA providers , which I would believe .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1I would believe that .
Now here's the worst part . I called a company that I know that works up in that area and I said , hey , what's the number for your rep ? Because I'd like to see about . Maybe maybe I'm a , you know , if we're a provider in a different region , can I send my . It might be a farther distance , but if they say , hey , I got one next week or the week after , maybe I could get a guy up there , maybe it's worth it to me . So called her up , left the message .
Speaker 1They haven't even returned my call , like four or five days ago , not like business days yeah I'm like , okay , well , because again you're calling from a pretty reputable company as well yeah , yeah , but they also know where I'm from , the area I'm from , and probably that's not my problem .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1Like you know , I'm not sure they would .
Speaker 2So I don't know what your rep about it .
Speaker 1My rep doesn't have a cell phone apparently anymore , and the only way to get a hold of them is by email , which I have sent off an email and have still not received a response . Oh , an email and have still not received a response . Oh wonderful so that's .
Speaker 2That's nice . It's been a . It's been an interesting week . Can ? Can we talk about the elephant in the room briefly , what's that ? If you're an audio listener , thank you , um , but if you're a video listener , you have seen plain guy sit with a weird looking stupid plastic fedora hat on his head that says happy birthday on it my wife made me wear it .
Speaker 1Yes , at the time of recording it is my birthday , so g is going to grace us all right now by singing me happy birthday on the show . Go ahead , g , take it away .
Speaker 2Happy birthday to you . Happy birthday to you . Happy birthday , happy birthday , happy birthday to you .
Speaker 1Do you not know how to sing happy birthday ?
Speaker 2I think that's just how you sing it , is it not ?
Speaker 1No , it's normally happy birthday . Uh , you know person's name . Happy birthday to you at the end , but yes , okay how old am I ? That has yet to be determined . Mentally I'm still about seven , um . Physically I'm about 95 , uh , but trips around the sun , I am 35 .
Speaker 235 .
Speaker 1So not getting any younger .
Speaker 2Getting closer to that 40 age , aren't you ? How's your hair holding ?
Speaker 1up Not very well . No , it's thin . It's thin up there . No grays , though I've been very lucky with no grays . Um , considering everything I'd uh , I'm surprised there isn't more of that . So , yes , it is , you can thank just for men for that . No , I don't . I don't dye my beard .
Speaker 2Oh , okay .
Speaker 1I've never dyed my beard . I promise you . I'd tell you if I do it , it would be the same hair or color . Color is my hair instead of this weird red beard that I have . Yeah , um , yes , that is off top of hell , but yes , my wife bought me this hat and um made sure that I had to wear it today while recording the podcast , since we're recording right on my birthday . Um . So thank you in advance for all the well wishes and anyone who did take the time to wish me a birthday today . It was great till man g didn't , but um it did oh did you yeah , oh yeah , I started with happy birthday .
Speaker 2When are we recording ?
Speaker 1it was the other day when I sent you a message and we're going to get into this wreck , um , this doozy of a wreck that we're going to talk about today .
Speaker 1Um , I was just sending him a message to say , before you ask me when we're recording , and I was sending a message to him when recording yeah , I've been on this since 1 am and right as I send it I look and you would just send me a message when are we recording ? Yeah , and then his response was oh , so tomorrow . Then so yes , we ? Um . I've never really shared videos or photos of wrecks , mainly because , as most companies will tell you , it's private right . There's all the time there's injuries and there's company names involved and everything else . This wreck was a little bit different . It was , it was , pretty worthy of a mention all over the internet , like everywhere I looked , being in the town that I'm in . This was a major event .
Speaker 1Social media had dash cam footage of the wreck which we will show on the show . Like six hours after it happened , the first videos of dash cam footage was going up . I seen the dash cam footage on site . I had seen it with a driver giving it . I made sure it was none of my guys that leaked it . Um , I don't think any of them have it .
Speaker 1I don't know who did leak this footage , but we had a massive three tractor trailer uh collision that happened recently on the 401 in our area . So , to lay the the groundwork for it , a tractor trailer was traveling eastbound . For unknown reasons still . He crossed the center median and almost went head on and ended up hitting another tractor trailer , which then created a fiery mess , and a third tractor trailer following behind , which is which we have the dash cam footage for , drove through said fireball and the trailer . So two trucks were heading westbound , one heading eastbound .
Speaker 1Give you an idea of the dash cam footage ? We'll play it now . The dash cam footage is from the truck that was the third truck in traveling westbound . There's nothing gory about this and I'm happy to report there was no major injuries at all , which is unreal . So we'll play the video . So we'll see the truck chair that's heading west . Pretty heavy traffic Boom , fireball , boom into the fireball . Like that is fire . Guys wanted to see that on on site at the wreck and I I told them like that's like a fireman's wet dream , is driving into a fireball collision detected .
Speaker 1A very heavy incident . We actually did have video footage as well that we found from the scene right after it happened . Wow , yeah , actually did have video footage as well that we found from the scene right after it happened . Wow , yeah . So these these photos are taken from the eastbound lanes . That is the trailer that got driven through that truck that you see upright in the background . That is the dash cam a lot of emergency personnel on scene .
Speaker 1That's a mess that is nothing compared to . Oh , I'd sent you some of the other photos and we will share them , um , ones that we could , making sure not to identify any companies or anyone involved . Um , but that is so . That is facing westbound . So that is the truck that crossed the median that you're looking at , burnt right down , burnt right down . You can see the upright trailer over on the right , the , the one that's standing on with its lights up . That's a service road , a bypass road , um , so the one's up standing and there's a second one in there , um , this photo on the left is that same truck that you just seen . That was burnt to the ground . That was his load and his trailer ripped open . Produce , yeah , he was . So the one that crossed the highway was carrying kiwis .
Speaker 2Oh nice .
Speaker 1Lemons . I don't know if there's any limes , but kiwis and lemons for sure . The other gentleman here with his trailer ripped open he was the one that originally got hit .
Speaker 2He was hauling lettuce , onions , veggies , produce , right , so we had a vegetable .
Speaker 1Yeah , it's just a caesar salad or a vegetable garden salad all over the highway yeah , yeah , exactly , and I have never um going back to the first photo and it really doesn't do it justice . When I first showed up on scene and I was walking down this highway , there was like little piles of Like piles of little fires everywhere , like it looked like a war zone . Like you know , obviously , fire were focusing their efforts On these trucks and these trailers . How nobody died Is still A mystery . How nobody had major injuries , like the one guy had a couple of cut fingers , I don't know if anyone left in ambulance like that minor of injuries , wow yeah , so we predicted about the eight to 12 hour closure Once we got started , once we got the okay to do the work and get started .
Speaker 2How many vehicles were you here to clean up ? All three , oh well closure .
Speaker 1Once we got started , once we got the okay to do the work and get started how many vehicles were you here to clean up All three , oh , wow , all three vehicles . All three vehicles and their cargos . Now , what a lot of people don't understand jobs like this . I'm not saying they're simple . There's a little tricky . Load that tractor onto a trailer it's rotator work for sure . Lift it up , chain it best you can put it down on a trailer .
Speaker 1Luckily we were like kilometers away from our shop , like a kilometer or two oh nice so it does help with the transportation of equipment , also , of getting you know reaction time to it and getting equipment on site and starting the process . Um , we had we had it cleared from the time we got the call um and where our equipment actually started working because there was traffic we had to move through . We had to clear a path for traffic . There was , you know , this trailer you see here on the left . We had the fire department had us opening it up so they could hit hot spots within the trailer . Right , so once we could actually get to work on recovery work it was , uh , about seven or eight hours the highway was closed . Well , most of this stuff , though , is is just , it's like it's destroyed . Every piece of equipment , including that trailer that is upright over there , um , is destroyed . Yeah , um , the that one is the only one that the cargo is good , but the trailer , the whole reefer there's a reefer on the front the whole front of the trailer is torched . Yeah , so you're pretty much doing a salvage job at this point . Right , you've got excavators doing work with , um , you know , lugger boxes and you're just loading up , you know burnt produce and all that . You're just cleaning up the mess . Yeah right , very little that are going on our flat decks and floats , a lot of the reefer units , the back doors , the stuff you can't break up and cut up and throw in lugger bins , but still a wild cleanup . I should have actually shared photos of the highway afterwards because you wouldn't even tell . Well , you'd have no idea we're there .
Speaker 1The ironic part , the funniest part of this whole recovery was while this was still going on , before the job had been decided , we were on scene and we get a report . So the only way because the highway was backed up and closed each way , the only way for the fire department to get off um was to head um eastbound in the eastbound lanes . Get off , fill their water pumper , get back on westbound in the eastbound lanes , get off , fill their water pumper , get back on westbound in the eastbound lanes because the highway was closed . Well , a truck driver who was going westbound and was going to be completely blocked for what he thought a couple hours , decided he didn't want to wait anymore . He decided to pull a U-turn in the emergency U-turn with his 53-foot trailer .
Speaker 1Now , this is a very wide u-turn . He missed . He got his trailer tires into the center median , which the way it was leaning , was taking weight off of his drives and therefore he was stuck , yeah , now blocking the only way the fire department can come in and out of this scene . So we get on scene with that , I get there before the cops to see if it's something you know , and we'll get a truck mobile and we'll get this cleared . Obviously , this is , you know , kind of the urgency at this point . These trucks aren't going anywhere , but this guy is blocking fire .
Speaker 2Yeah , first thing he says to me when I pull up , goes .
Speaker 1I'm sorry , I go . You don't have to be sorry to me , but the two guys that are the two extra units that are coming with flashing red and blue lights , you might want to apologize to them . Yeah , they're the ones that are going to have probably a fistful of tickets for you .
Speaker 2Hmm .
Speaker 1Well , it gets better , this driver . So we've got to . Before I get into that , we've got a truck on its way . One of our rotators is going to lift the trailer , put it back onto the road . It's a quick , easy job . Yep , our driver . Uh , this driver . When the cops get there , they start talking to him , they run his information . Cop comes back to me and he goes . I'm just waiting for confirmation .
Speaker 1Sure he's suspended oh nice so we wait and sure enough , he comes back . He is suspended um for for dui , the previous dui nice , which means he is ineligible to be driving which carries a 45 day impound on the tractor . The trailer can be released at any time yeah so if you're gonna be dumb , be good at it .
Speaker 1If you're gonna be dumb , you gotta be tough yeah , so the fact that he couldn't make this u-turn is ridiculous . Yeah , it's the widest one in this side of toronto and so he misses it , gets stuck , which is an invitation for police . You're on a 400 highway and you just took a U-turn and got stuck . This is an invitation for police to come see you . Like that , that is better than a Christmas card .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1They are a hundred percent going to come see you as soon as you do that and have a suspended license Like I would have ran like at that point you might as well just got out of your truck and been like you know what , see ya .
Speaker 2I mean like if you had a suspended license , wouldn't you have a thought in your mind is like maybe I shouldn't do dumb things and draw attention to myself If I have a suspension Right , you know right , that would .
Speaker 1that would be one of the first few thoughts that would come to your mind .
Speaker 2Like if , if you let your insurance lapse and you're like , fuck , I don't have insurance , maybe I should , you know , not do 120 in an 80 . Maybe I should be like a little bit more sensible to like you know read the report .
Speaker 1Especially in our area there's huge , because of our corridor and because we're we're close to us borders smuggling right , whether it be tobacco , whether it be whatever
. And these guys will get caught with , you know , truckloads full of unmarked tobacco or whatever it is they're bringing and why they get pulled over Cause they were doing 140 on the highway . If I've got a trunk full of hashish . I'm doing five over , ten over maybe .
Speaker 2Even twenty .
Speaker 1You're non-conspicuous . Drive like you would if you didn't have a trunk full of hashish . These guys will do a mock chicken down the highway and then go oh , cops are out to get me . So I got a . I didn't include it on on the slides , but I got a photo of this truck driver being walked to the cop car in handcuffs , which is pretty awesome .
Speaker 2He was released later on , a couple hours later um so you had to send one of your heavies to impound this truck trailer now we drove it okay we with everything else going on with the fire stuff yeah like .
Speaker 1So we used our rotator to pull it out of the median . I told the cop I'm like , look , with everything going on , the equipment and all that , can I just like drive this thing back to our yard ? I didn't really care , like the the vehicle's impounded , it's going into our care and control .
Speaker 1Yeah , um , it's like a five kilometer ride yeah , so we left our rotator on the side of the highway on the other side because the side might open by the time we got back and yeah , just did the drive and brought it back and I'll reflect that on the bill , like I'm not going to be . Like hey , I towed your truck and I took it . Like you know what I mean , come on , you're going to get 45 days with a storage .
Speaker 2There is no reason to be greedy there's zero reason to be greedy .
Speaker 1Yeah , so , yeah , that was probably . But anyways , it was a long night , so that came in . That mbc happened about 12 30 . We were on scene at one . We hadn't gone to bed yet . Right , a couple of my guys had . We had , you know , we obviously weren't calling our guys right away . We assumed a it's going to be fatal , there's going to be a couple hours before we can even touch anything on site , and so on and so forth .
Speaker 1And then by the time they made the decision so yes , you asked how many units in that that we got , and we did get all three and why that's important . That is an important question , not just for the finances and the books , but it's because there is no feasible way to work a recovery of that side . In my opinion , with multiple companies involved you would be so constantly tripping over each other . Yeah right , we've got equipment moving every which way . We've got excavators coming in working on stuff . We've got you know what I mean floats rolling in and out with equipment hauling out um debris and and parts of the trucks and everything else . You cannot have three companies working those recoveries .
Speaker 2I think it would have took longer if you had three different companies with three different crews . Even if the three different crews that got brought in had more manpower and more equipment , Then one yeah 100% .
Speaker 1Right 100% .
Speaker 2So , 100% .
Speaker 1So it was talks of that happening originally and I had no objections because I said go ahead , you're going to close it Like we did it in about eight , nine and I'm not saying we're the best of the best , like we still have a long way to go . We're humble in our own way , but 100% we were one of them . Right you would be . That rock would have taken a lot longer to clean up just because of the logistics behind three companies trying to do three different things working around each other .
Speaker 1Yeah Right , so no , we uh , so we did all three . It worked out . It was , like I said , the eight hours , whatever it was , I mean , given the scale of the cleanup and everything else involved in this , it was a freshly paved highway which is going to have to be repaved again . Nice , Like freshly paved , like three days before this . Oh so the heat and everything that got into it , the gouges that are in the road , it'll be a shave and pave and the roads guys were laughing about that . Like it's just , we haven't had this highway paved , this section in like five , six years . They finally do it in like the week of these guys go on .
Speaker 2But no idea .
Speaker 1Taxpayers dollars oh , that's it right , but but no , like I really want to push the point on the recovery side , like I've got no problem working with other companies . I've worked with people before on different things , smaller wrecks and , and you know , maybe a car versus a tractor where the you know , like one company's doing the car , one's doing the tractor trailer very workable scenes , right , because pretty much get your car out of the way and then the other crew goes to work . This isn't one of those ones where it's like , okay , well , we're going to go and do one and then you guys can come in . No , these scenes were worked simultaneously and the only way those scenes can be worked simultaneously is if everyone is in communication with everyone . Right now we offer the thing of cinetics . You know how nice cinetics are in a rec like that oh fuck when you're working two different scenes , and we're .
Speaker 1I always thought I was a big believer of let's , let's separate the frequencies doesn't work . Put everyone on the same frequency . You have two leaders that are talking over , like two groups talking over each other . You're listening for the key players you're working with , and my god , though , because when you hear someone hit a snag , you've got a solution for them . When you hear equipment's coming or you need equipment yeah , I have that over here . You know what I mean , and we set up a truck right in the middle of the two , put our station on it , like our base station on it , and worked us , and it was god . It went well so , but it's time we rolled out of there . It was about two o'clock in the afternoon , I think . Wow , um , so we had been up . You know I hadn't gone to bed yet . I know I hadn't gotten to bed . So we were 20 , you know 20 . Well , over 24 hours at that point um , how were your logs leaving ?
Speaker 2there was no logs .
Speaker 1There was no log books that night I wasn't hauling freight , I was towing yeah um , but no , it was the team really pulled together . I had a guy that night who had gone on an overnight pretty much drive to Barry actually and back got back at like 8am and went right to scene and started helping out . Yeah , like that is a team that we have , right , we had guys who weren't available . Weren't available for the rec . Well , they're just as important , because guess who was covering while we were sleeping .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1Right , you know what I mean . Like I got back from this , I slept for 14 hours . It was 30 some hours straight . We had been awake . I had to go , I had we had made plans with my mother for dinner and celebrate my birthday , and so I got back like two . I think . I got back about three o'clock I said what time are we going ? When I was like 4 30 , I'm like , oh no , she's like what ? I'm like I want to lay down , yeah , but like if I go down , I'm I'm out . So I laid in the most weird way and I'm like I just want to sleep for 15 minutes . She's like don't do it , don't do it , you're not gonna get up . It was the best 15 minutes I ever had in my life . I managed to get myself up , felt a little bit more refreshed for dinner and then , after dinner and dessert and everything else , I'm sitting there like I got to go home because I'm about to fall asleep . So no , it was a wild recovery .
Speaker 1Those are definitely the jobs that you know . They help financially too . Like they're great jobs financially , no doubt , but it's also like they're big team moments . The team comes together . You really see what you have in guys on those wrecks . When you're pushing to the 24 hours , you'll find out what a guy's made of and you'll also find out how much of a team player he wants to be right , because my team players will show up every time and then you get the guys that are just like you know I've had . I had guys where I send a message hey , if you're looking , we could use guys for a little bit of extra labor for this wreck , and I never heard back from later on that day , never heard back from anything . So you know what I mean . Like you , you , you find out who your team is in wrecks like that , for sure Can you really blame them for not getting back to you , though no .
Speaker 1No , no , no , especially at 5 am . Yeah , wouldn't mind like a little 2.30 in the afternoon . Hey , sorry about that .
Speaker 2Yeah , I was sleeping .
Speaker 1You know I was sleeping . Whatever Understandable , I wish I was sleeping too Like I sleeping . Whatever understandable , I wish I was sleeping too like . I never give anyone . You can't give people shit for that .
Speaker 1No right , I'm a big believer in all of our guys and I run the same way if you're off and I call you and I had a run the night before , actually that barry run where I called the guy I said , hey , I've got this run going to barry , are you interested ? He's off . He says no , so don't get like . You'd be helping me out if you did , but your off time is your off time , so would I appreciate it if you did 100% . Am I mad that you're not ?
Speaker 1No , anyone not doing this rec . It's voluntary . At that point You're not forced to be there unless you're scheduled working , then you're forced to be there . There is no . No , I can't fault guys for saying no . Like you're not forced to be there unless you're scheduled working , then you're forced to be there Like there is no , you know . So no , I can't fault guys for saying no . So yeah , those were the wild adventures of the 401 . The fiery and wild times along Canada's busiest highway . The worst part is you're sitting there going like wrapping that one up , and the joke we always have is you know there's going to be another one , right , and like I don't know what you do , after 30 , some hours , another one comes in . Like you just go like no , yeah .
Speaker 2You kind of got to . All your guys are well out of hours , well out of energy .
Speaker 1So you kind of wait 24 hours and we'll be there , or do you just suck it up and go over round two ? Uh , if there's one thing that towers are , it's suckers for punishment .
Speaker 2Yeah , I truly believe that towers are some of the biggest suckers for punishment you got to get a sponsorship with either monster energy or tim hortons and supply coffee or monster energy to the scene yeah , we , coffee was definitely a .
Speaker 1Thing yeah , well I spent a lot of time escorting equipment back right , because this stuff was pretty mangled and whatnot . Every normally every escort back , it was , uh , tim hortons , on the way at grab a , you know , fire showed up . Fire was awesome with us . The fire guys were great . Um , they had a couple hoses they had to write off . After that they were covered in diesel fuel , um , because they get saturated and they can't reuse them . So , like , we talked with them and , uh , we'll keep the hoses because we'll cut them up and use them as protectants in situations oh yeah around sharp edges because they're kevlar hoses .
Speaker 1so we'll just we'll cut them up and uh , make them into strips and have them around the stuff . They were great . They had coffee donuts offered us coffee and donuts as well . The fire department had donuts . They had coffee and donuts sent out to them . I don't know who brought them , Probably the police department . Nah , oh , dude .
Speaker 1There's two touchy groups in our area . No , it was probably one of the . You know we had a couple pickup trucks there , fire pickup trucks and stuff . They probably sent somebody out at one point . We had three different fire halls responding to it , right . So we had a lot of firefighters , a lot of hungry , tired firefighters there . They had to get some sugars and some caffeine . I went to the store on the way and I got two . What do you call those , these protein bars you can get at the gas station . Now Cliff , Two Cliff bars , a Kit Kat and beef jerky .
Speaker 2It's your breakfast , lunch and dinner .
Speaker 1Yeah , I had my Cliff bars and my Kit Kat is melted in my truck now and my jerky is still in the backseat . Jerky is good , though It'll go in the go bag . I keep that go book bag for every time I got anything . There's probably actually I should have checked there . There's probably a Red Bull in there , and the jerky will just get added to the collection .
Speaker 2And the chocolate bar will be thrown out .
Speaker 1The chocolate bar will be thrown out , unless it stays in there until winter and it hardens it back up again . Yeah , I reached down today and touched it went . Oh yeah , I forgot you were still here . You are definitely going to be a little soft , yeah .
Speaker 1So , that being said , it was a uh , it was . It was a hell of a day . It was a hell of a weekend . It was a hell of a birthday . Um , obviously , we spent most of it . My wife made a wonderful steak and potatoes and broccoli for dinner tonight . We had a nice steak dinner , bacon and eggs this morning for breakfast . That woman absolutely spoils me An eight pack of wonderful different beers from different areas that I love . That was my weekend in a nutshell .
So if you want to hear what next weekend is going to bring in hopefully no major wreck like that on the 401 will interfere Be sure to tune into our live show . August 25th , 6 PM , eastern episode 150 here on the toe in life podcast . You will get your opportunity to ask us any questions . Um , we'll see . We're still working on giveaways and different things that we can do . We'll have more information as we get closer or just the day of you'll have to tune in to find out if you can't make our live .
Speaker 1You will hear a replay next week anyways on the show , so be sure to check it out , don't forget . We're over on YouTube and Facebook , so you should be . I gotta remember how we gotta play around and get that all set up . I think we can like start a little thing that starts about half an hour before 6 o'clock and then the show will start , hopefully very timely , around 6 o'clock . We'll have some fun , some questions , some games , some different things going on , so anything you want to add to that G I'm going to bed . Sounds good . So , on behalf of myself and my wonderful , tired co-host , mr Toman G , we thank you for joining us for another episode of the Toman Life Podcast and we cannot wait to see you for the live show August 25th at 6 pm , eastern 3 pm on the West Coast . Take care , toodles .
Speaker 1And he lets out the biggest yawn of life you got a big bee yawn oh it's contagious , hopefully , you weren't driving when you heard that , and you started yawning too , because then you might end up like this tractor trailer Upside down the rhubarb . For every mile of road there's two miles of ditches . Stay between them .