State agency mulls tow car regulations

By Richard N. Velotta

Thursday, Feb. 24, 2005 | 10:55 a.m.

An incident that inconvenienced dozens of conventioneers at January's International Consumer Electronics Show was recounted Wednesday in testimony in support of a series of proposed tow car regulations.

But whether those inconvenienced conventioneers were in any danger is key to whether a section of the proposed regulations are included in or stricken from state statutes.

The state Transportation Services Authority heard testimony on three sets of regulations Wednesday in preparation for making decisions on them next month.

TSA officials have worked for months on regulations involving tow cars, charter buses and taxi leases. The TSA regulates buses, limousines, towing companies and household goods movers statewide and taxis in all but Clark County.

Representatives of the charter bus and towing industries, citing court decisions and their own interpretations of the state's existing regulations, asked for an overhaul of the regulations because they believe the TSA is exerting too much authority on rates and tariffs.

The TSA, working with industry lawyers, proposed several revisions within the regulations. The thrust of the changes involve whether the state can involve itself in matters covered by 1997's TEA-21 transportation regulations. The modifications under consideration have a clear line of demarcation: If it's an issue involving rates, routes or services, the state isn't going to touch it; if it has to do with safety or insurance, the state will regulate it.

But as clear as the delineation seems, representatives within the industries have differing interpretations of whether certain policies involve safety and thus should be regulated by the state. The incident at CES offered one such example.

On Friday, Jan. 7, the second day of CES, more than 20 cars were towed from a vacant lot on the 2600 block of Joe W. Brown Drive, near the Las Vegas Convention Center. A section of existing towing regulations spells out under what conditions a vehicle can be towed from private property.

That section is among the regulations set for repeal under current proposals. But the question asked by TSA commissioners Kimberly Maxson-Rushton and Bruce Breslow was whether the conventioneers who had their cars towed were endangered or merely inconvenienced.

"I'm sure for most of the people who had their cars towed there was a certain amount of anxiety," Maxson-Rushton said. "It was at night, their cars weren't where they were supposed to be, they were in an unfamiliar town, they had to find transportation. Most of them had luggage and their belongings in the car. What if they needed medication that was locked in the car?"

Tow company operators testifying Wednesday said they opposed the removal of a provision in regulations preventing highway and roadway cruising for business. While proponents of the removal say the provision addresses commerce and shouldn't be regulated by the state, opponents say it is the only regulation standing in the way of "wreck-chasing."

Some drivers said dangerous conditions occur when tow trucks race to the scene of an accident after learning about it through police radio dispatches. Accident tows are among the most financially lucrative because the clean-up time runs up higher fees for drivers on hourly rates.

Rex Ewing III, general manager of Ewing Bros. Inc. Towing in Las Vegas, said tow trucks speeding to accidents is a problem state regulators need to address.

Without the regulation, "it will be a disaster, I'll tell you that," Ewing said.