Towing cars

[gmwise]

On second thought,
we will need malpractice insurance for snow plowing operations.

[gmwise]

I would not be suprised if that has actually happened to some of the cars already. I have seen a number cars on the Interstates burried in snow drifts created by the plow trucks.

Just yesterday a plow driver found a dead driver who was missing from Minco in a 6 foot snow bank.

Good lord..
I am sorry for that family.

[jstaylor62]

After the profit from all the towing, expect to see a few shiny new boats in the lots of the impound yards.

And how much do you want to wager that if you called a towing company for help, they were to busy towing vehicles for the city...

[MGE1977]

Glad to hear Bricktown has been cleared, I need to go to Bass Pro to pickup a handgun and I trhink I'll stop by Spaghetti Warehouse for lunch.

Thanks for the information, have a Great Day and God Bless!!

Seriously Junkie leave it alone. I could care less as to who plows what because they got their orders from their bosses.

Getting your car towed sucks. Who could refute that? (Except for you of course Junkie as long as a fireman or policeman said so). My point is not to state otherwise.

How can someone complain about the towing of their car when it is on the public right of way, any right of way? It's the law, why does someone want to claim that Christmas is reason for a total shutdown of public works except the ones that benefit them?

Writing tickets is not something that cops necessarily enjoy, but its part of their job. I don't like to put IV's in babies, but when the time comes....
Something that is unpleasant, yet still a part of one's job has to be approached in a black and white fashion, otherwise it doesn't get done. In my case, no matter how much the baby screams, I am not deterred from gaining IV access to provide care necessary to the baby. In the cops' instance they are given a number, and then they meet that number, regardless of who you are, or what you do for a living, if you are found on the wrong side of the law, you suffer consequences.

Junkie people have been called Trolls on this site for a lot less then what you continually do. You can stir this pot all you want, and you'll be wasting a lot of time at the lakehouse that you could be using for something more enjoyable and truly something of which those of us without lakehouses might envy.

[betts]

Betts got off lucky.
If it was up to me I would have plowed the "junk and abandoned cars" to the side and let the insurance companies or the goobers deal with it.

My car was on the SIDE of the road at the time it was towed. It was not obstructing traffic, and there wasn't any traffic anyway, because the snow was too deep to get through, and the road ends in a dead end. That's what ticked me off: if access was so important, why didn't they plow the road after they towed the cars? Yes, justice is spotty and life's not fair. Sometimes people get raises and others don't. Sometimes people get laid off and others don't. Some departments don't get what they ask for and others do. So, if we can't gripe about it, shall we ALL cease and desist?

[gmwise]

My car was on the SIDE of the road at the time it was towed. It was not obstructing traffic, and there wasn't any traffic anyway, because the snow was too deep to get through, and the road ends in a dead end. That's what ticked me off: if access was so important, why didn't they plow the road after they towed the cars? Yes, justice is spotty and life's not fair. Sometimes people get raises and others don't. Sometimes people get laid off and others don't. Some departments don't get what they ask for and others do. So, if we can't gripe about it, shall we ALL cease and desist?

lol
As for others and in general, hell yeah, those who HAD a choice and didnt pull to the side when they noticed problems were stupid.
it wasnt meant to say i would plow yours into a wall.
calm down ..
but being pro maps didnt help ya much...rofl

[easternobserver]

First, no one had any business driving in those conditions unless they had an appropriate vehicle, a real need, and had a backup plan - someone to pull a stuck vehicle out. What if the car had been stuck in traffic or what if the driver had lost control? Purely selfish, and any tow bill should have been accompanied by a ticket.

Second, why would you assume the city will plow your street? Cities here just dont have the infrastructure to plow every street.

Third, what about the idea of pushing cars to the side or putting them in a parking lot? Whose parking lot? Who would pay for this?

Towing cars without ticketing the drivers seems quite reasonable, and I still vote for traffic tickets for all!

[betts]

A. People were at work when the snow started. My husband was already at the hospital, and saying he couldn't work that day because it might snow really hard wouldn't exactly have flown. We live in a state where snow frequently melts as it hits the ground, and you can't always believe the weathermen, as they thrive on doom and gloom. Unless one wanted to sleep at work, most people tried to drive home, it being Christmas Eve and all.

B. Most of us don't have four-wheel drive vehicles, because a snow like this is a once-in-a-century snow and it's more cost effective to drive a Prius (my husband's car....we like green vehicles, but they aren't very snow-worthy). No one here has chains or snow tires. I'm not even sure you can buy chains here, although I've never tried. Growing up in New York, he's an experienced snow driver, and managed to make it almost the entire 14 miles from work before getting hopelessly stuck a block from our house at 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve.

C. I don't think anyone thought the city would or should plow our street. My comment was simply that, without being plowed, our street was inaccessible to traffic anyway, so there was no real reason to tow cars that were parked as close to the curb as one could get them if there wasn't a plan to plow the street in place.

D. Many people who had to abandon their cars had no way to get back to get them out because you couldn't drive due to all the stalled cars and the depth of the snow. We tried calling many a wrecker and AAA and couldn't even get anyone to answer the phone. We had access to ours and still couldn't get it dug out, because the snow on the street was so deep that there was no place to drive it once we'd dug it out. We would have had to dig out the whole street.

So, was it fair....no. Is it time to drop it....yes.

[soonerguru]

Sounds like you were one of the idiots driving in it the other day and got your car stuck. Darwin award here you come?

I can see that your charm offensive is still in effect.

[Steve]

For what it's worth as this thread goes back and forth on the subject of tickets...
It was a parking ticket that led to the capture of the Son of Sam in NYC, 1977 - one of the most ruthless serial killers of the century.
And w/o meaning to dwell on the boming, it was a speeding stop that led to the arrest of Timothy McVeigh.

[soonerguru]

For what it's worth as this thread goes back and forth on the subject of tickets...
It was a parking ticket that led to the capture of the Son of Sam in NYC, 1977 - one of the most ruthless serial killers of the century.
And w/o meaning to dwell on the boming, it was a speeding stop that led to the arrest of Timothy McVeigh.

This is, I believe, a red herring to the discussion du jour. But thanks anyway.

[Spartan]

Here's why the city's piss poor job of plowing the roads in this part of town is unacceptable..

NewsOK

[LakeEffect]

Here's why the city's piss poor job of plowing the roads in this part of town is unacceptable..

NewsOK

Do you not believe "too fast for conditions"?

[Millie]

I don't think "coming home from work" is a valid excuse. Why leave somewhere that is warm and has ample food to go out and risk your life/become a traffic hazard? Every radio station/newscaster was telling people to stay wherever they were and not attempt to drive.

[Millie]

Do you not believe "too fast for conditions"?

Agree. The roads not being plowed may have contributed some small amount, but... to hit ice at a speed sufficient to flip your vehicle shows some poor judgment.

[betts]

I don't think "coming home from work" is a valid excuse. Why leave somewhere that is warm and has ample food to go out and risk your life/become a traffic hazard? Every radio station/newscaster was telling people to stay wherever they were and not attempt to drive.

Because it was Christmas Eve? And you had children home that you hadn't seen in months and months who were only going to be home for 48 hours? I think that's a valid excuse personally. If you're willing to take the risk, and you know how to drive in snow, having lived in snowy conditions much of your life. Most of the risk is from drivers who don't know how to drive in snow, being unused to it. But, if you're driving 20 miles an hour and being careful, the risk of anything other than a fender bender or getting stuck in a drift is low.

[soonerguru]

I don't think "coming home from work" is a valid excuse. Why leave somewhere that is warm and has ample food to go out and risk your life/become a traffic hazard? Every radio station/newscaster was telling people to stay wherever they were and not attempt to drive

Wow, your holiday compassion is really showing this year.

[Millie]

Wow, your holiday compassion is really showing this year.

It would be have been a great holiday for the guy if he hit and killed somebody on his way home, wouldn't it?

Like 3/4 of the people I know, my whole family wasn't able to get together as planned this year due to the storm. It sucked, but we dealt with it. Wanting to be with your family, or the virtue of "being from New York, where it snows" doesn't make you immune to the weather conditions (as this case clearly shows). I'm not trying to personally attack anybody here- I don't really care if or why the guy decided to go home from work, but I have a really hard time mustering any sympathy for anybody who makes that decision and then wants to complain about the outcome.

The vehicle was illegally left in the roadway. Ample time passed, and ample warning was given. The people were either unwilling or unable to move the vehicle in the time that was allowed, and the vehicle was towed to prevent it from being a hazard to others. Complaining about that, or suggesting that the vehicles be towed for free (because God forbid the towing company be in business for profit or the police make up some small amount of the admin costs involved in the storm and its aftermath) just really rubs me the wrong way. (As does the "it is Christmas" argument- on which date does it become appropriate to begin enforcing laws/ordinances again?)

[mikesimpsons82]

Wow, your holiday compassion is really showing this year.

As the old saying goes, "The stupid shall be punished." I bet you were first in line.

[Spartan]

Let me know if you people have an original thought sometime soon..

Too bad Millie didn't have to work on the day of the storm, because if she had, hopefully she would still be bunkered down in her office (hopefully not starving). After all, there is still ice on the roads, and people will always be getting in accidents. Keep telling yourself that it's not safe to go out. Fear the outside.

[betts]

What vehicle was illegally left in the roadway? Not ours. What ample warning? We had none. It was towed before any news item was put out via television or newspaper. And again (and again and again) the road was impassable anyway, because it was not plowed and it had drifts two to three feet deep for the entire block. To get our car out, we would have had to shovel half a block of street. The city was in the wrong, IMO, but it's over. Fini.

[easternobserver]

If you drive a car with no ground clearance, you dont need to be driving in the snow. Regardless of where you are from -- NY or HI. Being from the northeast, where 18 inches of snow doesnt even close schools the next day, I know how to drive in the snow as well as anyone. That said, my cute, little, fuel-efficient car has sat in the driveway since the snow came, and my big, giant, four-wheel drive, gas-guzzling, crew-cab pickup has gotten both me and my wife wherever we have needed to go (and has helped several stuck people, as well). It is a given that the infrastructure simply does not exist to keep the roads clear of snow, so that is all the more reason to only go out if you have a vehicle capable of getting you home. If you need to get somewhere and dont have a suitable vehicle, you may need to leave early. If you choose to take to the road ill-equipped, you endanger yourself and others. If you get stuck with no way to pull yourself out, and have to be pulled out by a private tow-truck in order to clear the public roadway, the least you can do is go thank the tow company (they sure didnt want to be out working over the Holiday), pay their fee, and go on about your business somewhat happily.

Why the venom? Because people are so quick to jump all over their government with absurd accusations and unrealistic expectations. In this conversation alone, government officials have been accused of corruption, theft, conspiracy, and fraud. Why? Because someone authorized the removal of a vehicle that had been abandoned in the middle of a public roadway. That is utterly absurd.

[Steve]

Soonerguru, posted in wrong thread... sorry ... please proceed.

[betts]

Because someone authorized the removal of a vehicle that had been abandoned in the middle of a public roadway. That is utterly absurd.

Your criticisms are fine, as long as they're accurate. No one has yet been discussing a vehicle abandoned in the middle of a public roadway. And, when you're a doctor, leaving early is not an option. You leave when you're done with your work. I don't think anyone would be happy if their wife, child, mother was left without medical care so that the driver of the vehicle could be sure to leave before the snow got heavy. In the situation being discussed, that was 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Reading Comprehension 101 might be a nice interim class.

But, all's right with the world. My Thunder won again tonight!

[bretthexum]

It would be have been a great holiday for the guy if he hit and killed somebody on his way home, wouldn't it?

Like 3/4 of the people I know, my whole family wasn't able to get together as planned this year due to the storm. It sucked, but we dealt with it. Wanting to be with your family, or the virtue of "being from New York, where it snows" doesn't make you immune to the weather conditions (as this case clearly shows).

I agree.

I missed my trip back home to Wisconsin because of the storm. Yes it sucks but I'm not going to risk my life driving in that crap. It doesn't matter if it's 10 miles or 1000 miles. People had no business being out in those conditions. For the people working I understand. For the thousands of morons at the mall... or people trying to drive across the town or state - no sympathy at all. Maybe they'll learn a lesson this time