Another Roadside Problem : Needed legislation to improve safety for stranded motorists

One of the worst fears motorists harbor is having their car break down on a dangerous street or a busy freeway. Each year local emergency roadside service operators receive millions of calls for help from stranded motorists. But for some drivers those calls were just the beginning of a nightmare.

A young woman was raped at gunpoint in 1984 after a dispatch operator insisted that she stand near a pay phone--instead of locked inside her car--while waiting late at night for a tow truck. A teen-age boy was killed in 1980 by a drunk driver after waiting more than an hour in his disabled car on the freeway for a tow truck. In 1989, a tow truck driver, who picked up a young woman and her car, took an unexpected off-ramp from the freeway. As he drove through a deserted neighborhood, the woman panicked. And when he slowed to turn a corner, the woman jumped from the truck and ran for help.

These and other incidents prompted a group of local women to fight for improved safety for stranded motorists. The result is the Emergency Roadside Service Bill, introduced by Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar). AB 123 would require that all prospective tow truck operators furnish evidence of their criminal and driving records. The bill would also create an advisory committee charged with developing standards for tow service telephone dispatchers and drivers. These guidelines will help tow companies establish safe pickup points for stranded motorists, prioritize truck dispatch and improve response time.

The bill passed the Assembly Transportation Committee earlier this month and will be on the Assembly floor in early spring. With support from the Automobile Club of Southern California, which has 3.6 million members and one of the state’s largest network of tow trucks, passage by the full Legislature is likely.

Gov. Wilson should support this bill. Californians waiting by their stalled cars are already worried about repair costs. They should not have to fear for their lives.