“But him and his family are having a tough time.”
Tow truck driver injured in accident
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — A tow truck driver in Lexington is in the hospital after allegedly getting hit on New Circle Road.
“Roy is still in the hospital, here we are Thursday and they’re still waiting to do some surgery on him,” said Lee Roberts, the Director of Roberts Heavy Duty Towing.
On the night of March 30th, 27-year-old Roy Barnett was out doing his job as normal, hooking up a car that needed to be towed.
That’s when Roberts says the unexpected happened. A car allegedly traveling down New Circle Road failed to slow down or move over and hit Barnett.
Roberts says it’s hard for him to see a second employee go through this, after having one hit nearly two years ago.
“It’s as if it was me out there. Because I put him out there, he’s employed by us,” said Roberts. “It makes you feel that you’re somewhat to blame because you put him out there and it’s not a safe environment.”
Roberts says he has seen the evidence.
“We saw in the camera that there was plenty of room for the people to have done that.”
Roberts says more than 60 tow truck drivers are killed across the country every year while doing their jobs.
Barnett, a husband and father of four is at UK hospital with multiple fractures in his back and wrist and also has some internal injuries.
“But him and his family are having a tough time and I just wish people would slow down and move over.”
While it sounds simple, Mason Dixon Research & Polling, along with AAA, found 70% of Kentucky drivers admitted to not moving over or slowing down. They also found 90% of Kentucky First Responders say they’ve had drivers almost run into them on the side of the road.
And even worse, 71% of Kentucky drivers have never even heard of the “Move over, slow down law.”
“So yeah, it’s simple to just slow down and move over. That is the law,” said Roberts.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help Barnett with his medical needs. You can find that link
here.
