Montgomery’s new towing ordinance to begin in January

Nov. 20--Starting in January, if unlicensed drivers are involved in an accident, the Montgomery Police Department will tow their vehicles.

The ordinance, which has been in the works for nearly two years, was approved by the Montgomery City Council 8-1 on Tuesday. City Councilman Arch Lee voted against the new policy.

The ordinance applies to unlicensed drivers and those with canceled, suspended and revoked licenses. If a license has been expired for fewer than 60 days, the vehicle will not be towed.

The document was written to include towing uninsured vehicles from accidents, but that portion won't go into effect until the state's electronic system designed to tell officers in real-time whether a vehicle is insured starts working.

"I think the council worked hard and worked diligently to come up with a compromise," said Councilman Glen Pruitt, who is also on the council's public safety committee. "In the beginning, we started off as trying to do it for everybody, whether you were in an accident or not."

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.

Councilmen -- for the most part -- agree with the newly adopted ordinance.

Lee said he thinks the tows should occur when someone is pulled over for a traffic citation, not just if they're in an accident. Right now, drivers cited for driving without insurance or a license are allowed to drive away.

He said because the ordinance doesn't allow police to tow when the driver is pulled over for any reason, the city is allowing them to continue to commit the crime.

"Why not stop them before?" Lee said.

The ordinance allows police to decide whether a vehicle will be towed from the scene of an accident if the driver is unlicensed.

If a vehicle is impounded, the owner has to pay a $50 administrative fee on top of the cost of the tow and storage fees. The unlicensed driver could also be subject to a citation, the fine for which is $75 plus a $155 court fee.

All About Towing & Hauling is the company that is contracted to do city-related tows. The fee for a tow is $75 plus any additional storage fees that are charged after the first 24 hours.

The total cost for an unlicensed driver in a motor vehicle accident could be as much as $355, not including storage fees.

In order to get the vehicle released, the registered owner has to bring his or her valid driver's license, proof of insurance, payment of the $50 fee and either the original vehicle title, a copy of both the front and back of the original title, the current vehicle tag receipt or a copy of the tag receipt.

If the owner doesn't have a valid driver's license, he or she must also bring photo identification and someone who has a valid license.

If someone other than the owner picks up the vehicle, the person must also bring written notarized authorization from the registered owner allowing the release of the impounded vehicle.

Currently, when an unlicensed or uninsured driver is pulled over for a traffic violation or involved in an accident, they get a ticket but can drive away.

Pruitt said he originally brought this discussion to the council's attention because it's not fair for drivers who are insured and are involved in accidents with uninsured drivers.

Mickey McInnish, a city attorney, said officers have the ability to tow an uninsured vehicle under state law anyway. The state's new insurance law, which went into effect in January, imposes heftier penalties for driving without insurance.

"We didn't create this law," Pruitt said. "We didn't reinvent the wheel. All we're doing is adding some teeth to it."

City Councilman Jon Dow, a member of the public safety committee, said it's important that they make sure people know about the new ordinance.

"I think we do a bad job of publicity and getting the word out," Dow said. "We need to make sure they know about everything."

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