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Opinion
 

Staff Editorial

                 Matt Dulin                   Tony Hernandez      Jim Parsons
                Jason Poland             Dusti Rhodes           Blake Whitaker

Towing program needs some maintenance

Freeway driving is a fact of life for Houstonians, and whether you drive a brand new BMW or a delapidated brown Mercury Topaz, chances are you've experienced car trouble at some point in your motoring career.

Mayor Bill White's Safe Clear program, which stipulates that all broken-down vehicles on Houston freeways be towed within six minutes, may seem like an effective way to keep Houston's transportation arteries unclogged, but it has been met with a hefty amount of criticism from lawmakers and citizens alike. Unless you have experience working on a pit crew, six minutes (the time one is allowed to get his or her car off the freeway) is hardly enough time to change a tire, and the strictness of the program reeks of kowtowing to special interests -- namely, towing companies.

State Sen. John Whitmire has garnered quite a bit of press lately for his opposition to the program, which went into effect Jan. 1, but recent efforts at compromise may kill the bill he authored to end the program. Compromise in this situation seems like a step in the right direction -- the idea behind the program isn't inherently bad, but it needs certain restrictions.

The compromises reached during a closed meeting with the mayor and other officials in Austin on Tuesday included expanding the Motorist Assistant Program, as well as provision allowing motorists to request a law enforcement officer be present for tows.

Expanding the MAP program is a positive gesture on behalf of the city and may reduce the number of people who are forced to pay for unnecessary tows. And the law enforcement provision could provide a sense of security, though it doesn't change the fact that six minutes is simply not enough.

The new compromises are promising, but Bill White and supporters of the program need to take them a step forward and allow motorists a more reasonable amount of time to get off the freeways, or the continued criticism they would face would be richly deserved.