Editorial: Coming to aid of motorists

Wednesday, April 19, 2000 | 9:34 a.m.

State regulations bar tow truck operators from trolling roads, highways and parking lots in an effort to find someone who needs their vehicle towed. The regulation enforces Nevada law, which says service must be specifically requested before a motorist gets help from a towing company. The prohibition was drafted with the purpose of preventing "cruising," which is the term used for tow companies that try to steal business from other companies who already have been dispatched to the scene.

But this prohibition does create situations where a stranded motorist -- who doesn't have a cell phone or is unable to walk a long distance to the nearest pay phone -- must watch helplessly as tow trucks pass him by because he hadn't called them. But the Transportation Services Authority -- the state agency that regulates towing companies, limousines, buses, moving vans and some taxi companies -- is taking the right step to ease this ban that often hurts the very individual who needs assistance.

As the Sun's Richard N. Velotta reported Monday, the rule under consideration by the Transportation Services Authority would allow a tow truck to come to the aid of a motorist who hailed him in distress. In order to curb "cruising," the regulation would require the motorist to sign a waiver that acknowledged he hadn't already called for a different towing company.

Unlike our neighbor to the west, California, which has call boxes seemingly everywhere for motorists to use when they are in trouble, Nevada has nothing. The current ban is cold-hearted, but this proposed regulation should allow for a common sense application of the law. Regulations and laws shouldn't be written solely for the benefit of the industry being regulated; there also should be a countervailing principle at work that ensures the interests of the consumers are protected, too.