Lessons from Lakewood – For Professional Drivers

Brian J Riker 

By now, most of North America has at least heard of the 110-year prison sentence handed down last month to Rogel Aguilera-Mederos for his role in a deadly crash that claimed the lives of four people and injured six more, with two permanently disabled. I am not going to debate if 110 years was appropriate nor how the now reduced sentence of 10 years, as commuted by Governor Polis, may be too lenient but rather I would like to highlight some lessons the towing industry can learn from this horrific tragedy. 

The crash happened when the truck driver lost his brakes descending a steep mountain grade just west of Lakewood, Colorado. What happened was fully preventable had a little professional judgment been exercised. What scares me the most about this case, besides how it highlights a severely broken commercial driver licensing and training system in the United States, is that I see “professional” tow operators make some of these same poor decisions daily. 

The first of many mistakes made by Mr. Aguilera-Mederos was operating in an environment he was not properly trained to operate in. Not understanding extreme mountain driving, he should never have accepted a dispatch into Colorado. While towers typically operate in a smaller, more localized geographic region, the comparison can be made that the towers with the get ‘er done attitude do the same thing, attempting to lift things or tow vehicles that they have no training for or are much too large for their tow truck to safely handle. 

The next critical mistake the driver made, and this one does transfer directly to operating our trucks too, is operating a truck with known defects. Mr. Aguilera-Mederos deliberately continued on his trip knowing full well his brakes were defective and had been for an extended period of time. Towers do this daily, often because they don’t want to use the spare truck or don’t want to take the time to put a truck down for proper repairs. I know it can be tough to be down a truck (I was once a single truck owner operator company myself) but the risk is just not worth it to run a truck that you know is unsafe for the roads. You are a tower not Superman, and your truck is subject to the same laws of physics, and Murphy’s Law, just as your customers are! 

Now this risk is just not with defects on your own equipment but often, even with perfectly maintained tow trucks, I witness towers with inoperable brakes on the vehicles they tow because they don’t know how to, or worse yet can’t be bothered to hook up functioning brakes on the vehicles in tow. Yes, there are some exceptions to having working brakes on disabled vehicles but often this is not the case, and even if the law doesn’t require it, common sense and best practices may. 

In closing I want every tow operator that reads this to stop and reflect for a moment. How often have you had a close call, or have you responded to a crash that didn’t need to occur if only the vehicle involved had been properly maintained or driven by a competent driver? 

Is it worth risking criminal prosecution for simply doing your job, getting it done at all costs so you can later brag on social media about how much you and your truck can handle, or is it time to start passing on the jobs that can’t be safely handled? 

You won’t do anyone any good if you are in prison and can’t earn a living or respond to that next call, or worse still if you are dead. The choice is yours. Stay Safe!