BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 198
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Date of Hearing: March 23, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Jim Frazier, Chair
AB 198
(Frazier) - As Introduced 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
AB 198
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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
AB 198
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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
AB 198
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None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Manny Leon / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093