Watch Out For Fast Tow

By Rachelle Bowden in News on Apr 25, 2005 8:18PM

You might wanna watch out where you double park your car in the central business district. As part of Daley's traffic plan, starting today the new "fast tow" program will whisk your car away and you'll be up to your ears in fines.

The goal of the program is to get traffic moving since it's estimated that as much as 60% of congestion is caused by accidents, or breakdowns, or cars parked illegally blocking lanes.

The first stage sent out the first 8 of 20 lime green tow trucks. They'll be parked in strategic locations so they can reach vehicles in the downtown area and on LSD within 10 minutes. The trucks will tow the vehicles to the nearest legal space, either on a side street, or to a beach lot on LSD or to an area in front of an auto pound. If your car is towed you'll have to dial 311 and tell them your license plate number to get the exact location.

If your car breaks down and you're there your car will be towed for free for the first 24 hours.. but if you park illegally your car will be towed to the impound lot and you'll have to pay a $150 towing fee, $10/day for storage AND whatever you're ticketed. Also, these new tow trucks will be sent when the first accident calls are received at the 911 center. Until now, the calls for trucks were made by responders once they got to the scene of the accident.

A poll on the NBC5 website shows that only about 36% of us think that the new towing rules will help ease traffic congestion, but in Houston a fast-tow program that began in January has been credited with helping reduce traffic accidents by 12.2%.

Chicagoist suggests Scholastic's Little Green Tow Truck book for parents who need to explain to their frightened kiddies who exactly took their minivan.