A new AAA study reveals fatal roadside worker crashes are a bigger problem than previously believed. AAA Foundation researchers found that roadside assistance providers including tow truck drivers, mobile mechanics, emergency roadside technicians, and safety service patrols, were struck and killed nearly four times more than reported. State AAA spokesman Nick Jarmusz says the research reveals that vehicle collisions with roadside workers are not always the result of poor visibility. Jarmusz says more often than not, speed, driver distractions, and or impairment are a factor. The study found that 123 roadside assistance providers were killed by passing vehicles between 2015 and 2021. That dwarfs the approximately 34 noted in national crash data. More than 60 percent of the crashes occured during darkness, or which nearly two-thirds were at locations without street lighting. Thirty-four percent were in daylight.
