Trending Topics

‘Spirit Ride’ raises awareness for first responder safety

A parade of tow trucks carried an honorary casket representing first responders fatally struck by cars at emergency scenes

By Kayla Simas
Staten Island Advance

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — “Slow down and move over.”

That was the message sent out as the national Spirit Ride came to Staten Island Thursday morning, with a ceremony at J & J Towing in Mariners Harbor and a procession through the streets where a parade of tow trucks carried an honorary casket representing first responders fatally struck by cars at emergency scenes.

The Spirit Ride is funded by the American Towman Magazine to help raise awareness of New York State’s Move Over Law, which requires motorists to move over and change lanes to give safe clearance to law enforcement officers, firefighters, ambulances and tow-truck drivers responding to emergencies on the roadway.

According to the National Safety Commission, about 71 percent of Americans have not heard of the Move Over Law.

The Spirit Ride started June 1 in Massachusetts and has since been to 100 cities since.

“The Spirit Ride draws attention to the dangers faced on the highways to the men and women of the NYPD, FDNY, EMS, and two services,” said Mike Corbin, a member of the American Towman Foundation. “Today, we call out to all motorists to please give us room to work. We will ride together to distribute change.”

The ceremony opened with a blessing from Corbin’s wife, Elsie, to all the fallen comrades who lost their lives in these fatalities.

The Spirit Ride anthem, “Booms in the Sky,” was sung by Corbin before he started to speak on the reason why everyone was there.

“Hundreds of casualties a year are the results of cars and trucks passing too close, only inches where work is being done,” Corbin said. “Sixty percent of them are tow-truck operators.”

“Ask yourself,” Corbin said, “Would you work at a desk and sit at a chair that’s on the edge of a cliff without any type of safety net or protection? Well, the highway safety net and protection for first responders is the Move Over Law.”

Stephen Ruggirello, owner of J & J Towing, spoke on the ceremonial casket, which many referred to as “Spirit.”

“ ‘Spirit’ represents all of the first responders and personnels of the roadway, while representing patriotism and tragedy,” he said as he pointed out the color scheme of red, white, and blue.

Red stands for the blood sacrificed, white represents the spirits of the fallen and blue holds a place for the loss families feel.

On the casket are symbolic paintings. One portrays a tow-truck operator with a hook in his hand, carrying the world on his back with cars whizzing by. Another shows a highway patrolman standing beside a wreck during a recovery operation, and there’s a truck bearing down the highway toward his back.

Painted on front of the casket, members of the NYPD FDNY, EMS and towing stand together before their emergency service vehicles, looking down at their shadows.

The ceremony was proceeded when Corbin held up a ceremonial baton and passed it to the members of J & J Towing. As the baton was passed, it played audio of the whoosh of a passing car on a highway.

Among the many who gathered around the lot of J & J Towing were members of L & S Towing, Fix-A-Dent Towing, Johnny’s Auto Body Shop, Ultimate Collision, American Auto Body Shop, Styland Auto Collision and New York Top Company Towing, all of whom knew the reason they were there. All stood around “Spirit” and chanted “Slow down and move over, it’s the law.”

“We are part of an epic American journey, unique in our nation’s history involving the four branches of emergency services. This is a grass-root campaign that has never been seen before,” Ruggirello said. “Spirit is the greatest towing project since the first tow truck was built 100 years ago.”

Shortly after the ceremony, a parade of tow trucks took to the streets of the North Shore at 10 miles per hour to raise the awareness. They started at J & J Towing on Andros Avenue, then went to Richmond Terrace, South Avenue, Forest Avenue, Richmond Avenue, Arthur Kill to the West Shore and ended at South Avenue.

“Spirit” was on its way to Queens after traveling through Staten Island.

Copyright 2017 Staten Island Advance

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU