BROTHERHOOD FROM COAST TO COAST

“Brotherhood from Coast to Coast”

By: Shawn Michaud

Towing is an industry like no other I have ever seen. The risks are high the rewards can be low yet every day we put it all on the line literally speaking. So then why is it unlike every other high risk industry that we are so torn apart as a brotherhood? Being relatively new in the industry I assumed these problems were only local. In April I decided to take a holiday to the wonderful Vancouver, British Columbia. While on this vacation I decided to visit a local towing company. Maple Ridge Towing along with Larry Styba were more than hospitable. This visit to the west coast helped me realize two things, 1) There is hope for the brotherhood of towing, and 2) The problems we encounter our not limited to my small town of Cornwall, Ontario. Let me explain. While in Maple Ridge I was offered the opportunity for a full ride along as well as tour of their facility for the day, I met a lot of great people who have a true passion for the industry just like me. Being a “noname” operator from 5000km away and be offered a open door policy to visit such a great towing company shows that no matter how distant we are apart there is still many operators that recognize and embrace the “brotherhood” as we know it. That being said the visit also opened my eyes to other key problems in our industry that I had observed in my home town. Operators who will take every opportunity to one-up or steal calls from another company, operators who bring down our level of professionalism that we have strived so hard to achieve by having a complete disregard for public safety in some of the ways they operate their equipment. These are problems that face the industry as a whole and if are left unaddressed will simply continue to grow in magnitude. We are all here for the same purpose and day in day out we face the same risks, together we can and WILL change the reputation that comes along with towing, This will be achieved not by shunning our fellow operators but simply by educating them. This is something that can be done by every single one of us “brothers”. So remember next time you see a fellow operator out on the roads, Smile, wave and remember we are all brothers from coast to coast.