‘Slow Down, Move Over:’ Mother works to bring awareness 2 years after son hit, killed

By Taylor Thompson

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    CANTON, North Carolina (WLOS) — An event to honor a local slain truck driver who was killed two years ago while raising awareness about the “Move Over Law” was held Sunday, Feb. 26.

The Slow Down Move Over Awareness Ride took place in Canton Sunday, spearheaded by Brooke Lawrence, a Canton resident, who organized the event in honor of her son, Austin Gayne.

Gayne, who grew up in Canton, was a tow truck driver who was struck by a car while on the job. He was hit on Feb. 1, 2021, while working in Orlando, Florida.

“He drove a heavy wrecker and he was loading a dump truck, and he got struck and he ended up in the ICU for 26 days,” she said.

The ride was held exactly two years after Lawrence said they had to remove Gayne from life support.

During the last two years, Lawrence said she’s been devoted to bringing more awareness to the Move Over Law, which requires motorists to approach cautiously when an emergency vehicle is stopped on the shoulder of the roadway with its lights flashing.

On multi-lane highways, motorists are required to change lanes away from the emergency vehicle — or on a two-lane highway, they are supposed to safely slow down.

Lawrence said there are too many people who don’t know that that is a law.

“We’re trying to raise awareness to the drivers that slow down move over is a law, and all of these people have to work on the side of the road,” she said.

She explained how a first responder is struck and killed every four days, even though the law is in effect in all 50 states.

In Gayne’s case, he had plenty of lights and cones around him as he was loading up the truck, but the driver who hit him just wasn’t paying attention.

She described the last few years as a nightmare, adding that her son had two children of his own who were only 1 and 2 years old when he was killed.

“Those kids will never remember him,” she said.

She added that all those kids know about their dad is that he didn’t come home from work that day.

“He was a great dad, he was a great person, he was always optimistic, he was always smiling,” she said.

Three rides took place on Sunday: one in Canton, one in Orlando, Florida, and the third in Jacksonville, Florida.

“All those people that are working on the side of the road, they want to go home at the end of their shift,” Lawrence said.

She asked for everyone to move over and slow down, to not just know the law, but to actually follow it.

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