Helping stranded motorists risky, authorities warn after fatal Tucson crashes

After to two recent crashes here that took the lives of Good Samaritans, the Arizona Department of Public Safety is warning about the dangers of helping stranded motorists on the interstate.

“I understand the mindset, I do,” said DPS Sgt. Eric Andrews. “But it’s important to realize that in doing so, you’re doing it at your own risk.”

Speeding cars, distracted drivers, intoxicated motorists can all make for a deadly combination of potential risk factors to disabled motorists sitting vulnerably along the shoulder. Pulling up to a scene to assist puts do-gooders in just as must potential danger, Andrews said.

“I completely understand wanting to help somebody,” Andrews said. “But that would not be my recommendation.”

Even law enforcement officers, with their cones, and flares and flashing lights, feel wary along the shoulder, sometimes just a foot away from cars tearing past at 75 miles per hour.

“We know the risks and we’ve had the training,” he said. “The general public doesn’t.”

Even those well versed in car care, like 60-year-old Luis Enrique Del Toro, who has changed hundreds of tires during his career, could not protect himself from others as he changed a family friend’s tire on May 15.

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As he was pulled over on the shoulder on Interstate 19 south of Tucson between the Pima Mine Road and San Xavier Road exits, a woman lost control of her car while attempting to change lanes, striking the vehicle Del Toro was working on and a second vehicle parked on the shoulder, authorities have said. Del Toro died in the crash.

A couple of weeks later, Stephanie Marie Codina, 42, and her 11-year-old son Antonio, were sitting in a car that was rear-ended by a commercial vehicle after the driver stopped on the shoulder of Interstate 10 near the Speedway exit June 1, to help when a vehicle that was involved on a minor crash, authorities have said. Both mother and son were killed.

The most helpful thing you can do when spotting someone on the side of the road disabled it to call 911, or non-emergency lines to request assistance, Andrews said. He also notes it is safer to drive on a flat tire to a safe location than it is to pull over on the freeway where fixing the tire is dangerous.

“Would you rather sit on the side of a highway where you could get struck, injured or killed, or damage your tire, which probably needs to be replaced anyway, and get to a parking lot or residential area and get it taken care of,” he said. “You can drive on a flat tire.”

If the car won’t move, and it’s not dangerously hot outside, Andrews recommends getting out and walking laterally away from the vehicle in case it gets struck. If outdoor conditions are too dangerous, stay inside the vehicle, but keep seat belts on.

Andrews knows there will always be those who, like him and other first responders, have it in them to help, regardless of dangerous conditions. Like Del Toro, whose family has posted on social media about his helpful nature, some people will always put others above themselves.

“Luis was a kind, hardworking, and selfless man who always put others before himself,” Del Toro’s family wrote on social media, even knowing the dangers before him.