Lots of auto towing services use just a single driver in each tow truck, but if you have the staff and budget, arranging to have a second employee in the truck can be a good idea. Not only can the presence of this individual be handy if the primary driver gets ill or otherwise cannot go to work, but when the pair is working together, the second towing professional can be valuable in a number of different ways. Depending on the specific type of towing assignment that your truck pulls up to deal with, here are some tasks for the second towing professional.

Improving Visibility

Towing a stopped vehicle at the side of a highway or other busy road can be dangerous business because of the approaching traffic. A tow truck driver should always endeavor to make the scene as visible as possible, but has to juggle doing so with hooking up the stopped vehicle in a timely manner. When your employees work in two-person teams, the driver can start to deal with the stopped vehicle right away, while your second person can get busy making the scene visible with fluorescent pylons, flares, and other visibility tools.

Assessing Safety

Towing vehicles isn't just dangerous because of traffic. If you sometimes do work for a parking enforcement company or a repossession agency, there's a good chance that the person whose vehicle you're towing isn't happy that you're doing your job. There's a possibility for your driver to be assaulted by a vehicle's owner because of being focused on the task at hand. In a potentially hostile environment, the second employee can watch for threats. Additionally, his or her presence may serve as a deterrent for an irate vehicle owner to angrily confront the tow truck driver.

Help With Tricky Jobs

Some towing jobs are more difficult than others, and it's possible that the driver of the tow truck could benefit from an extra set of hands to get the job done as quickly as possible. For example, if a tow truck needs to make a multi-point turn after hooking up the vehicle, the second employee can stand on the road and provide directions to the driver. If a vehicle is difficult to hook up to the tow truck for any reason, two trained employees on the scene can likely do a quicker and better job than the driver on his or her own.