Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home Police Department is on track to tow some 345 vehicles this year.
As of the end of October, the department had towed 290 vehicles under the 1997 state law that allows police to tow the vehicles of persons who are driving drunk, uninsured, without a license or with a suspended license.
So far, the department has cited 130 drivers for driving uninsured and 137 for driving uninsured.
Last year, the department towed 360 vehicles, citing 174 drivers for uninsured and 169 driving while suspended.
In 2002, police towed 358 vehicles, citing 204 drovers for uninsured and 225 for driving while suspended.
The first full year after the law took effect was 1998. Police towed 368 vehicles, with 262 driving while suspended citations ad 114 driving uninsured citations.
Police appear in recent years to tow more often for driving uninsured.
“My perception is on a percentage basis we’re probably towing more than we did in the early years of the program,” Police Chief Bob Burford said. “We’re better able to detect whether a driver is insured.”
When the program first started, cell phones were not as common; and now police can find out insurance information from the Division of Motor Vehicles.
Police would not tow vehicles on the basis of only a failure to carry proof of registration, but early in the program it was not as easy to determine whether a driver was insured without the proof.
The concern about towing the vehicles of drivers who fail to carry proof of insurance was that the driver simply forgot the proof of insurance, leaving it perhaps in a pile of mail at home.
Towing vehicles is the latest attempt to deal with suspended and uninsured drivers.
“The state legislature has struggled with this problem for years,” Chief Burford said. Previous attempts included the “zebra tag,” a striped tag placed over the expiration date on offenders’ license plates.
Those were useful because it gave police a reason to stop the vehicle, Chief Burford said.
Under the tow low, persons may get their vehicles out of impound by paying an administrative fee and impound fees. The vehicle must also be driven by a properly licensed and insured driver.
A hearings process is available for persons to dispute an impound.