Montgomery City Council leans toward towing vehicles of unlicensed drivers

Source: Montgomery Advertiser, Ala.儲存Sept. 04--After nearly two years of discussion and multiple attempts to draft ordinances, the city finally will consider allowing Montgomery police to impound vehicles of unlicensed drivers involved in collisions.All but one member of the City Council's five-member Public Safety Standing Committee agreed to draft the ordinance for discussion at the next committee meeting Oct. 1. The ordinance would have to be approved by the full council.During the past year, discussion has morphed from towing unlicensed drivers to towing uninsured drivers, and back to towing unlicensed drivers. Several ordinances addressing both problems have been discussed and postponed because of logistical problems -- such as police manpower -- and fee disagreements among councilmen.But now, all committee members except C.C. Calhoun agree on the terms of the ordinance, which would allow police to tow the vehicles of drivers with a suspended, revoked or expired driver's license if the individual is involved in a collision on a city, county or state road.The city's administrative fee would be $25, not including the cost of the citation, tow or storage. Previously proposed administrative fees were as high as $200 because they were attached to ordinances that would require a tow if someone was unlicensed or uninsured in any traffic situation, including getting pulled over for a traffic violation.To get the vehicle back, the owner or driver has to bring the vehicle's title, a copy of the front and back of the title or the tag receipt, in addition to proof of insurance and proof that the individual driving it off the lot has a valid driver's license.The ordinance is being modeled after those in several other Alabama cities, including Decatur and Birmingham.Montgomery Police Maj. Keith Barnett, commander of the traffic division, said police wouldn't be allowed to tow vehicles involved in an accident on private property because it's not against the law to drive without a license or insurance on private property, such as a parking lot.Barnett has been providing accident, citation and police manpower data to the committee throughout the process. Currentl新蒲崗迷你倉, unlicensed and uninsured drivers can be given citations, but are still allowed to drive away.The state's new insurance law, which imposes heftier penalties for driving without liability insurance, allows any officer to tow an uninsured vehicle. But Barnett said the only reason the MPD automatically tow a vehicle is if someone is caught driving with a suspended or revoked license for a DUI.Language will be included in the ordinance that alludes to the state law, so police have the option to impound the vehicle even if it's not involved in a collision.The committee decided on limiting the ordinance to drivers without licenses because the state's new system that is supposed to allow officers to electronically verify whether a vehicle has insurance in real-time through mobile data terminals has problems. Barnett said he expects the system will eventually work, but it could take a few years.Of 7,307 accidents involving more than one vehicle in 2012, about 1,583 drivers -- or 21 percent -- were uninsured and issued a citation. About 14 percent, or 521, didn't have valid licenses and were issued a citation, according to Barnett.So far in 2013, those figures have fallen significantly, he said. Out of the 4,240 collisions from Jan. 1 to July 28 of this year, 463 drivers -- or 10 percent -- were uninsured and issued a citation. About 234, or 5 percent, were unlicensed and issued a citation for it. Barnett said there's no way to know what's contributed to the reduction in uninsured and unlicensed drivers.Calhoun, who doesn't support any version of a tow ordinance, said he doesn't believe the city should be able to tow anyone's car, especially those who can't afford insurance or a driver's license.Councilman Glen Pruitt, who originally wanted to address the uninsured driver problem, said he's pleased the council is moving forward with towing the vehicles of unlicensed drivers, but it's just a first step. "At the end of the day, I want to get to the insurance piece."Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Montgomery Advertiser (Montgomery, Ala.) Visit the Montgomery Advertiser (Montgomery, Ala.) at .montgomeryadvertiser.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesmini storage