From The Trussville Tribune staff reports
MONTGOMERY — Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed a proclamation declaring August “Slow Down Move Over” Awareness Month.
The origin of the “Slow Down, Move Over” law dates to 1994 when a paramedic was struck while working an accident scene and was listed at fault, which motivated him to push for laws protecting first-responders. His home state of South Carolina was the first to pass such a bill two years later in 1996.
Darian Weaver, Owner & Publisher of Tow Professional magazine and the Southern Tow Expo, both headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, and his wife Holly Weaver, were both instrumental in Gov. Ivey’s proclamation making August Slow Down, Move Over Awareness Month in Alabama, according to the company. From submitting the paperwork to seeing the proclamation through to its fruition and a big motivator was seeing the names and families affected by roadside accidents each year at the Wall of The Fallen ceremony at Chattanooga’s International Museum of Towing & Recovery. Tow Professional magazine also memorializes these towers by posting their names in memorial on the cover of their annual Wall of The Fallen Issue, produced in partnership with the museum.
The Slow Down, Move Over Awareness Month proclamation will be a centerpiece for this weekend’s 2019 Southern Tow Expo Planned TIMS Event, a live reenactment of a traffic incident with a car and a school bus. The event is produced in tandem with the Orange Beach Alabama Police Department and the Orange Beach Fire Department on Aug. 9 at 8:15 p.m., wrapping up the first night of the trade show. The Southern Tow Expo will be held Friday, Aug. 9 and Saturday, Aug. 10, and offers free admission to those in industry and to the public. Show floor hours are 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on both days. The show’s schedule for Friday includes the annual Beach Bash in the parking lot of the Orange Beach Event Center with live music and refreshments.
2019 Southern Tow Expo
The Gulf Coast’s only Towing & Recovery event will be held Aug. 9 and Aug. 10 at the Orange Beach Event Center, 4671 Wharf Pkwy W, Orange Beach, Alabama. For more on the show, go to www.SouthernTowExpo.com