Always move over and slow down for emergency vehicles when they’re on the sides of the road, whether it is an ambulance taking care of a patient, an officer enforcing the law, or a tow truck working to remove a vehicle.

That is the message of the Spirit Ride, which is coming to Washington Tuesday. George Moore, a local tow truck driver says it is scary at times because often traffic doesn’t move over or slow down. He explains the Spirit Ride is a casket that is towed behind an SUV symbolizing all of the roadside workers who have lost their lives on the job. He says, “It would be nice for people to actually realize the danger that roadside workers go into, not just tow truck drivers, but ambulance people, DOT workers, they’re especially vulnerable. If people can realize the danger that was there, you know, you wouldn’t want somebody to drive through your office at 70 miles an hour three feet away and I would like people to realize that. If they’re sitting at their desk and they would have a semi whiz by three feet away at 70 miles per hour, would you not be a little unnerved by that? That’s the comparison that I’d like to make, that my office is right next to the white line, so have some respect for that.”

On average a tow operator is killed every six days. The Spirit casket is visiting 150 cities this year. The public is invited to a ceremony at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Washington Community Center parking lot and then Moore’s towing will take the casket down Highway 92 to Ainsworth and north on Highway 218 to Monticello.

Anita Moore, George’s wife, asks people to slow down, “This casket that is going across the United States on the back of all these different tow trucks there is no body in it and that’s the way we want it. We don’t want anybody that we know, or don’t know, in a casket. We want them to come home at night. We want them to come home at the end of their shift. We want them to come home. And when they are out on the roadways working having some respect and slow it down, and move over for them.”

If you see a vehicle with emergency lights, slow down 10-15 miles per hour below the posted speed limit and move to the open lane next to you if possible.