July 3, 2017 – West Bend, WI – The very professionals who earn a living from highway accidents are now taking to the streets to promote highway safety and help safeguard the lives of fellow first responders. The American Towman Spirit Ride will relay a colorful, ceremonial casket by tow truck across the nation and back. The casket honors first responders who have been killed on
the roadside and carries the message: Slow Down, Move Over.
About 250 towing companies across the country are relaying the casket to promote the state’s Move Over law with processions involving 5,000 tow trucks and emergency service vehicles throughout this 2017 and 2018.
The Ride will pass through West Bend, WI on 07/06/17 with the Spirit casket being relayed to Bob’s Main Street Auto & Towing.
A ceremony will take place at 10 am at West Bend Elevator followed by a procession of tow trucks and emergency service
vehicles through West Bend.
The Move Over law is often ignored and seemingly unknown to many motorists. The law exists in all states of the Union and requires passing vehicles to move over one lane when approaching an incident where emergency lights are flashing and tow operators, police, fire fighters and emergency-medical technicians are working.
The ceremonial casket, named Spirit, was custom painted by an artist, Cecil Burrowes, who specializes in painting intricate designs on trucks and wreckers. Painted on Spirit are a dozen scenarios depicting first-responders at the scenes of highways incidents.
The casket was built by a lifelong singer-songwriter, Mike Corbin, who composed the Spirit Ride’s anthem, Booms in the Sky.
Corbin performs this song and Bless the Spirit Riders at the ceremony that honors fallen first responders. The ceremony precedes the procession of emergency service vehicles.
Hundreds of roadside professionals are casualties each year of roadside incidents; about 100 of them are fatalities. Among first responders killed, 60% of them are tow operators.
According to American Towman Magazine President Steve Calitri, the Ride is the greatest project in the history of the towing industry, which celebrated its centennial in 2016.
The Spirit Ride was founded by American Towman Magazine and B/A Products and is a project of American Towman Spirit, Inc., a nonprofit corporation, born to promote highway safety. Scores of sponsors have pitched in with funds to support the coordination of the Ride and its media outreach campaign. All the towing companies participating are contributing their services.
For more information on the Spirit Ride, please visit ATSpiritRide.com.