AB 198: Vehicles: tow truck assistance.

Existing law prohibits a person from stopping, parking, or leaving standing any vehicle upon a freeway that has full control of access and no crossing at grade except when necessary for the purpose of rapid removal of impediments to traffic by the owner or operator of a tow truck operating under an agreement with the Department of the California Highway Patrol.

This bill would authorize a driver of a tow truck who is either operating under an agreement with the law enforcement agency responsible for investigating traffic collisions on the roadway or summoned by the owner or operator of a vehicle involved in a collision or that is otherwise disabled on the roadway to utilize the center median or right shoulder of a roadway in the event of an emergency occurring on a roadway that requires the rapid removal of impediments to traffic or rendering of assistance to a disabled vehicle obstructing a roadway if specified conditions are met.