Uebelhart . Net

Well, in case you have not heard, Mayor “Boss Hogg” White (thanks for the name bloghouston.com and Chris Baker on 740) (and I am becoming ashamed I voted for him, although the other choices were worse) and some of city council managed to get a new law/rule/profit-generating-scheme passed (Put it to a vote folks!) which awards lucrative contracts to wreckers on Houston Highways that allows them to IMMEDIATLY tow ANY car they find on the side of a Houston area Freeway. No if ands or buts (or butts if you are looking at plumber/wrecker-driver cracks). $75, no choice. And if you are not at your car, it’ll be stowed and that’s gonna be another $100 a day minimum. They are aiming at a 6 minute response time. Radio news stated over 360 have been towed so far (since Monday morning).

Did you run out of gas and just walked accross the feeder to get a gallon?
Too bad, car’s gone.

Changing your own flat tire?
Nope, can’t do it, the wrecker has to tow you.

Don’t have the $75 bucks?
Impounded for a fortune.

Did you call AAA or some other auto/cardealer program?
Forget it, unless they have the new special permit they are committing a crime now to tow it. And they would have to be the first on the scene.

How do we fight this?
Forget city council and the Mayor/Boss! They awarded these contracts for alot of money (some reports are saying $50K and more for some road stretches), and probably have had alot of re-election/PAC contributions from the wrecker/storage lot industries.

One thing is to write your state reps (both State houses and Federal Houses) and complain.
Contact DPS. Aren’t they the ones that are supposed to regulate state highways?

And finally, my solution:

Everyone can afford an extra 5-10 minutes a day, right?
Pull over to the shoulder of the highway, put on your hazard signals, and wait.
Once a wrecker pulls up, turn off your signals and get back on the freeway.
Repeat as often as you can.

If just a few hundred do this a day (doubt I reach this many people in Houston though - so spread the word) we can cause an impact.

Can you tell I am P-O’d about this new rule?
BTW: I drive a new car (1 year old) with a great safety/non-breakdown record, so this would probably not impact me, but I find it an unnecessary impact on our lives.
Also, it’s supposed to improve traffic conditions. Bah, if they want to fix traffic, fix the highways. The construction lags have gotten out of hand!