Tow Truck Driver Survives Dramatic Crash on Illinois Highway: Urges Drivers to Move Over

A tow truck operator in Illinois is lucky to be alive after a van crashed into his rig while he was assisting a stranded vehicle. The incident was caught on camera Friday on Highway 158, between Millstadt and Belleville.

Allen Timmerwilke, a tow truck driver for Quality Towing in Columbia, says he was working to winch out a vehicle from a ditch when the crash occurred.

“I was repositioning my hooks and that’s when chaos happened,” he recalled.

Surveillance footage shows cars slowing down and giving space—until a white van fails to move over and slams into the tow truck, using the angled ramp as a launch before flipping and sliding down the highway.

Miraculously, no one was seriously injured.

Illinois State Police cited the van’s driver for violating Scott’s Law, which requires motorists to move over or slow down when approaching vehicles with flashing lights—including emergency and roadside assistance vehicles.

“It could have been a lot worse,” said Timmerwilke. “All I care about is getting home to my daughter.”

The crash comes just months after the death of Metro East tow truck driver Wade Bivens, who was struck and killed on I-255 in November 2023 while helping a stranded driver.

Quality Towing’s Collin Buresh stressed that tow operators face real risks every day.

“Our guys are out there every day kind of putting their lives at risk,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s just like—slow down, move over, pay attention.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, tow truck drivers are nearly 15 times more likely to be killed on the job compared to workers in other private industries. More than 1,200 tow operators are injured each year.

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Credit: CNN Newsource