Sask. tow truck driver dives into ditch as semi-tractor plows into his rig
CBC
It was a little foggy when Scott MacDonald got the call at about 4:30 a.m. CST Monday to pull a stuck car off the side of Highway 1 between Qu'Appelle and Indian Head, Sask.
Still, the visibility and roads weren't too bad as MacDonald, a 25-year-old tow truck driver for Valley Collision Centre in Fort Qu'Appelle, donned his safety gear and headed out.
Once he got to the site where the Dodge Charger was stuck, MacDonald turned on his flashing amber safety beacons and placed pylons around the scene.
MacDonald was hooking the winch to the car, preparing for the tow, when he looked up.
"I see a semi barrelling at me coming into my zone."
MacDonald, who said he never turns his back to traffic, reacted quickly and took off running down the highway away from the oncoming semi.
"I didn't want to get hit by the truck and the safest place was to run away."
He dove into the median ditch between the westbound and eastbound lanes of Highway 1 and watched the semi drive straight into his tow truck.
"I didn't know what my tow truck was going to do after he hit me. I had it anchored down but a semi barrelling at you at 100 [km/h], that's a hundred-thousand pounds of pure steel coming at you."
MacDonald said his tow truck moved about one truck length after getting hit.
He said the semi driver didn't slow down or appear to see his truck before hitting it.
"If I was on the other side of my tow truck using the winch, I would not be here speaking to you today," MacDonald said, explaining he would have had nowhere to run.
MacDonald's first instinct was to check on the Dodge Charger after the accident. He then checked on the semi driver, who MacDonald said was unhurt.
The tow truck was totalled, he said.
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