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.

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.

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.

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 operating under an agreement with the law enforcement agency responsible for investigating traffic collisions 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.

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 operating under an agreement with the law enforcement agency responsible for investigating traffic collisions 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.

CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS

CSA1 Bill Id:AB 198

Author:(Frazier)

As Amended Ver:June 2, 2015

Majority vote

Original Committee Reference: TRANS.

SUMMARY: Enables an authorized tow truck operator to use the center median or right shoulder of a highway in the event of an emergency that requires the immediate removal of traffic impediments, if specific conditions are met.

The Senate amendments:

1. Clarify that a tow operator contacted by either a law enforcement agency or a motorist with a disabled vehicle are subject to the provisions specified in this bill.

2. Make technical nonsubstantial clarifications.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Prohibits a person who has full control of a vehicle from stopping, parking, or leave standing the vehicle upon a freeway, as specified.

2. Exempts tow truck operators authorized by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) from the abovementioned prohibitions for purposes of rapid removal of impediments to freeway traffic.

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative Counsel.

COMMENTS: Extensive research has found traffic congestion to have negative economic and social impacts on motorists including, productivity loss, tardiness (employment, meetings, business appointments), vehicle wear and tear, motorist road rage, and loss of fuel. For example, the federal Department of Transportation has reported that motorists burn more than 2.8 billion gallons of gasoline every year while stuck in traffic. In California, highway traffic congestion and travel delays are an everyday occurrence for motorists. A report released by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) found California's highways to be the busiest in the country. Overall, along with Interstates 10 and 110 ranking in the top 10, the study found Interstate 5 to be the busiest interstate in the country and additionally found the Los Angeles section of Interstate 405 to be the busiest interstate in any American city.

While traffic congestion is caused by a variety of factors, one of the most frequent causes is vehicle impediments such as vehicle break downs, abandoned vehicles, and vehicle collisions. Many times, these types of impediments may partially block a highway or require lane closures for vehicle removal resulting in significant travel delays. In one study, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2014) concluded that traffic congestion tied to vehicle collisions cost motorists $28 billion annually. Additional studies have shown that every one minute of delay caused by a traffic incident results in four minutes of congestion delay. In California, accident data reports that in 2012, approximately 69,000 vehicle injury collisions occurred during peak commute times.

In response, FHWA developed the Traffic Incident Management Program (TIM) in collaboration with a number of state and local stakeholders involved in highway incident response and traffic management. Housed under FHWA's Office of Transportation Operations, TIM consists of a planned and coordinated multi-disciplinary process to detect, respond to, and clear traffic incidents so that traffic flow may be restored as safely and quickly as possible. TIM's end goal is to reduce the duration and impacts of traffic incidents and improve the safety of motorists, crash victims, and emergency responders.

This bill adopts one of TIM's policy recommendations aimed at reducing the period a vehicle is impeding highway traffic by allowing a peace officer to authorize a tow truck operator to travel on a highway's center median or right shoulder in order to remove disabled vehicles in a timely manner. Currently, law enforcement officers responding to a traffic incident cannot grant this authority to tow operators, in turn causing extended traffic delays in many circumstances. As a result, the author asserts, "as one TIM's identified best practices, this bill provides law enforcement with the flexibility to determine the most effective approach in removing disabled vehicles impeding highway traffic and causing significant delays."

Analysis Prepared by: Manny Leon / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN: 0000925

 CONSENT  

Bill No: AB 198

Author: Frazier (D)

Amended: 6/2/15 in Senate

Vote: 21

SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE: 11-0, 6/9/15

AYES: Beall, Cannella, Allen, Bates, Gaines, Galgiani, Leyva, McGuire, Mendoza, Roth, Wieckowski

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 75-0, 3/26/15 - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Vehicles: tow truck assistance

SOURCE: Author

DIGEST: This bill authorizes tow truck operators to operate in the center median or right shoulder of a roadway under specified conditions.

ANALYSIS: Existing law prohibits an individual from stopping, parking, or leaving a vehicle parked upon a freeway except under specified conditions, including, among other conditions:

1. When the vehicle is so disabled that it is impossible to avoid temporarily stopping and another vehicle has been summoned to render assistance.

2. When necessary for a tow truck owner or operator who is operating under an agreement with the California Highway Patrol to rapidly remove impediments to traffic.

This bill explicitly authorizes a tow truck operator providing emergency roadside assistance to utilize the center median (including making a U-turn across the median) or the right shoulder of a roadway if all of the following conditions are met:

1. The tow truck operator is operating under an agreement with the law enforcement agency responsible for investigating traffic collisions on the roadway;

2. The tow truck operator is summoned by the owner or operator of a vehicle involved in a collision or that is otherwise disabled on the roadway;

3. A peace officer at the scene of the roadway obstruction has determined that the obstruction has caused an unnecessary delay to motorists;

4. The peace officer has determined that a tow truck can provide emergency roadside assistance by removing the disabled vehicle and has given explicit permission to the tow truck driver to use the center median or right shoulder of the roadway;

5. The tow truck operator operates the tow truck on the center median or right shoulder at a speed that is reasonable and prudent with due regard for weather, visibility, traffic, and the surface and width of the roadway; and

6. The tow truck displays flashing amber warning lights to the front, rear, and both sides while driving in the center median or right shoulder.

Comments

Purpose. The author states that existing law does not authorize law enforcement to allow tow trucks responding to an emergency to utilize the center median or right shoulder of a roadway. However, the center median or right shoulder would often provide the quickest access on a congested roadway where a traffic collision has occurred. This bill will help speed removal of traffic impediments by authorizing tow trucks to use the median or shoulder when appropriate.

Costs of congestion. A new Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) report indicates that in 2011, the most recent year for which data are available, Interstate 5 in California was the most congested interstate highway in the nation. Interstates 10 and 110 in California were the second and third most congested. Research indicates that traffic congestion is a major economic development issue: Unexpected delays add costs to goods movement, regional congestion hurts business competitiveness, and congestion diminishes residents’ quality of life. In addition, traffic congestion leads to wasted fuel, increased carbon dioxide emissions, lost productivity, and higher chances of collisions due to tight spacing and constant stopping and starting.

Implementing an FHWA recommendation. To address the social and economic costs of traffic collisions, FHWA developed the Traffic Incident Management Program (TIM) in collaboration with a number of state and local stakeholders involved in highway incident response and traffic management. The TIM, under FHWA’s Office of Transportation Operations, consists of a coordinated, multi-disciplinary process to detect, respond to, and clear traffic incidents. The goal of the TIM is to reduce the duration and impacts of traffic incidents and to improve the safety of motorists, crash victims, and emergency responders.

The TIM provides a number of recommendations and best practices related to the safe and timely removal of wreckage and debris. One of these recommendations is to provide law enforcement with flexibility to determine the most effective approach in removing disabled vehicles impeding highway traffic. This bill will implement this recommendation by facilitating rapid removal of traffic impediments and/or removal of a disabled vehicle obstructing a roadway.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No

SUPPORT: (Verified 6/11/15)

California Association of Highway Patrolmen

California Peace Officers’ Association

California Police Chiefs Association

California State Sheriffs’ Association

California Tow Truck Association

Official Police Garage Association of Los Angeles

United Coalition for Motor Club Safety

OPPOSITION: (Verified 6/11/15)

None received

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 75-0, 3/26/15

AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins

NO VOTE RECORDED: Gallagher, Grove, Jones-Sawyer, Mathis, Rendon

Prepared by: Erin Riches / T. & H. / (916) 651-4121

6/12/15 10:55:55

**** END ****

SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING

Senator Jim Beall, Chair

2015 - 2016 Regular

Bill No: AB 198 Hearing Date: 6/9/2015

SUBJECT: Vehicles: tow truck assistance

DIGEST: This bill authorizes tow truck operators to operate in the center median or right shoulder of a roadway under specified conditions.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law prohibits an individual from stopping, parking, or leaving a vehicle parked upon a freeway except under specified conditions, including, among other conditions:

1. When the vehicle is so disabled that it is impossible to avoid temporarily stopping and another vehicle has been summoned to render assistance.

2. When necessary for a tow truck owner or operator who is operating under an agreement with the California Highway Patrol to rapidly remove impediments to traffic.

This bill explicitly authorizes a tow truck operator providing emergency roadside assistance to utilize the center median (including making a U-turn across the median) or the right shoulder of a roadway if all of the following conditions are met:

1. The tow truck operator is operating under an agreement with the law enforcement agency responsible for investigating traffic collisions on the roadway;

2. The tow truck operator is summoned by the owner or operator of a vehicle involved in a collision or that is otherwise disabled on the roadway;

3. A peace officer at the scene of the roadway obstruction has determined that the obstruction has caused an unnecessary delay to motorists;

4. The peace officer has determined that a tow truck can provide emergency roadside assistance by removing the disabled vehicle and has given explicit permission to the tow truck driver to use the center median or right shoulder of the roadway;

5. The tow truck operator operates the tow truck on the center median or right shoulder at a speed that is reasonable and prudent with due regard for weather, visibility, traffic, and the surface and width of the roadway; and

6. The tow truck displays flashing amber warning lights to the front, rear, and both sides while driving in the center median or right shoulder.

COMMENTS:

Purpose. The author states that existing law does not authorize law enforcement to allow tow trucks responding to an emergency to utilize the center median or right shoulder of a roadway. However, the center median or right shoulder would often provide the quickest access on a congested roadway where a traffic collision has occurred. This bill will help speed removal of traffic impediments by authorizing tow trucks to use the median or shoulder when appropriate.

Costs of congestion. A new Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) report indicates that in 2011, the most recent year for which data are available, Interstate 5 in California was the most congested interstate highway in the nation. Interstates 10 and 110 in California were the second and third most congested. Research indicates that traffic congestion is a major economic development issue: Unexpected delays add costs to goods movement, regional congestion hurts business competitiveness, and congestion diminishes residents’ quality of life. In addition, traffic congestion leads to wasted fuel, increased carbon dioxide emissions, lost productivity, and higher chances of collisions due to tight spacing and constant stopping and starting.

Implementing an FHWA recommendation. To address the social and economic costs of traffic collisions, FHWA developed the Traffic Incident Management Program (TIM) in collaboration with a number of state and local stakeholders involved in highway incident response and traffic management. The TIM, under FHWA’s Office of Transportation Operations, consists of a coordinated, multi-disciplinary process to detect, respond to, and clear traffic incidents. The goal of the TIM is to reduce the duration and impacts of traffic incidents and to improve the safety of motorists, crash victims, and emergency responders.

The TIM provides a number of recommendations and best practices related to the safe and timely removal of wreckage and debris. One of these recommendations is to provide law enforcement with flexibility to determine the most effective approach in removing disabled vehicles impeding highway traffic. This bill will implement this recommendation by facilitating rapid removal of traffic impediments and/or removal of a disabled vehicle obstructing a roadway.

Assembly Votes:

Floor: 75-0

Trans: 15-0

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No

POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on Wednesday,

June 3, 2015.)

SUPPORT:

California Association of Highway Patrolmen

California Peace Officers’ Association

California Police Chiefs Association

California State Sheriffs’ Association

California Tow Truck Association

Official Police Garage Association of Los Angeles

United Coalition for Motor Club Safety

OPPOSITION:

None received

-- END --

ASSEMBLY THIRD READING

ATR Bill Id:AB 198

Author:(Frazier)

As Introduced Ver:January 28, 2015

Majority vote

SUMMARY: Enables an authorized tow truck operator to use the center median or right shoulder of a highway in the event of an emergency that requires the immediate removal of traffic impediments, if specific conditions are met.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Prohibits a person who has full control of a vehicle from stopping, parking, or leave standing the vehicle upon a freeway, as specified.

2. Exempts tow truck operators authorized by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) from the abovementioned prohibitions for purposes of rapid removal of impediments to freeway traffic.

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative Counsel.

COMMENTS: Extensive research has found traffic congestion to have negative economic and social impacts on motorists including, productivity loss, tardiness (employment, meetings, business appointments), vehicle wear and tear, motorist road rage, and loss of fuel. For example, the federal Department of Transportation has reported that motorists burn more than 2.8 billion gallons of gasoline every year while stuck in traffic. In California, highway traffic congestion and travel delays are an everyday occurrence for motorists. A report released by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) found California's highways to be the busiest in the country. Overall, along with Interstates 10 and 110 ranking in the top 10, the study found Interstate 5 to be the busiest interstate in the country and additionally found the Los Angeles section of Interstate 405 to be the busiest interstate in any American city.

While traffic congestion is caused by a variety of factors, one of the most frequent causes is vehicle impediments such as vehicle break downs, abandoned vehicles, and vehicle collisions. Many times, these types of impediments may partially block a highway or require lane closures for vehicle removal resulting in significant travel delays. In one study, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2014) concluded that traffic congestion tied to vehicle collisions cost motorists $28 billion annually. Additional studies have shown that every one minute of delay caused by a traffic incident results in four minutes of congestion delay. In California, accident data reports that in 2012, approximately 69,000 vehicle injury collisions occurred during peak commute times.

In response, FHWA developed the Traffic Incident Management Program (TIM) in collaboration with a number of state and local stakeholders involved in highway incident response and traffic management. Housed under FHWA’s Office of Transportation Operations, TIM consists of a planned and coordinated multi-disciplinary process to detect, respond to, and clear traffic incidents so that traffic flow may be restored as safely and quickly as possible. TIM's end goal is to reduce the duration and impacts of traffic incidents and improve the safety of motorists, crash victims, and emergency responders.

This bill adopts one of TIM's policy recommendations aimed at reducing the period a vehicle is impeding highway traffic by allowing a peace officer to authorize a tow truck operator to travel on a highway's center median or right shoulder in order to remove disabled vehicles in a timely manner. Currently, law enforcement officers responding to a traffic incident cannot grant this authority to tow operators, in turn causing extended traffic delays in many circumstances. As a result, the author asserts, "as one TIM's identified best practices, this bill provides law enforcement with the flexibility to determine the most effective approach in removing disabled vehicles impeding highway traffic and causing significant delays."

Analysis Prepared by: Manny Leon / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN: 0000073

Date of Hearing: March 23, 2015

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION

Jim Frazier, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 198

Author:(Frazier) – As Introduced Ver:January 28, 2015

SUBJECT: Vehicles: tow truck assistance

SUMMARY: Enables an authorized tow truck operator to use the center median or right shoulder of a highway in the event of an emergency that requires the immediate removal of traffic impediments, if specific conditions are met.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Prohibits a person who has full control of a vehicle from stopping, parking, or leave standing the vehicle upon a freeway, as specified.

2. Exempts tow truck operators authorized by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) from the abovementioned prohibitions for purposes of rapid removal of impediments to freeway traffic.

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown

COMMENTS: Extensive research has found traffic congestion to have negative economic and social impacts on motorists including, productivity loss, tardiness (employment, meetings, business appointments), vehicle wear and tear, motorist road rage, and loss of fuel. For example, the federal Department of Transportation has reported that motorists burn more than 2.8 billion gallons of gasoline every year while stuck in traffic. In California, highway traffic congestion and travel delays are an everyday occurrence for motorist. A report released by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) found California's highways to be the busiest in the country. Overall, along with Interstates 10 and 110 ranking in the top 10, the study found Interstate 5 to be the busiest Interstate in the country and additionally found the Los Angeles section of Interstate 405 to be the busiest Interstate in any American city.

While traffic congestion is caused by a variety of factors, one of the most frequent causes are vehicle impediments such as vehicle break downs, abandoned vehicles, and vehicle collisions. Many times, these types of impediments may partially block a highway or require lane closures for vehicle removal resulting in significant travel delays. In one study, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2014) concluded that traffic congestion tied to vehicle collisions cost motorists $28 billion annually. Additional studies have shown that every one minute of delay caused by a traffic incident results in four minutes of congestion delay. In California, accident data reports that in 2012, approximately 69,000 vehicle injury collisions occurred during peak commute times.

In response, FHWA developed the Traffic Incident Management Program (TIM) in collaboration with a number of state and local stakeholders involved in highway incident response and traffic management. Housed under FHWA’s Office of Transportation Operations, TIM consists of a planned and coordinated multi-disciplinary process to detect, respond to, and clear traffic incidents so that traffic flow may be restored as safely and quickly as possible. TIM's end goal is to reduce the duration and impacts of traffic incidents and improve the safety of motorists, crash victims, and emergency responders.

This bill adopts one of TIM's policy recommendations aimed at reducing the period a vehicle is impeding highway traffic by allowing a peace officer to authorize a tow truck operator to travel on a highway's center median or right shoulder in order to remove disabled vehicles in a timely manner. Currently, law enforcement officers responding to a traffic incident cannot grant this authority to tow operators, in turn causing extended traffic delays in many circumstances. As a result, the author asserts, "as one TIM's identified best practices, this bill provides law enforcement with the flexibility to determine the most effective approach in removing disabled vehicles impeding highway traffic and causing significant delays."

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

California Peace Officers’ Association

California State Sheriffs' Association

California Tow Truck Association

Opposition

None on file

Analysis Prepared by: Manny Leon / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093