07:45 PM CST on Tuesday, March 29, 2005

By Lucas Wall / Houston Chronicle & Reggie Aqui / 11 News

Click to watch Reggie Aqui's 11 News report

More than two months into the controversial Safe Clear towing program, Mayor Bill White is saying there is now concrete evidence it should continue full-speed ahead.

KHOU

If the trend continues, Mayor White says there will be about a thousand fewer accidents in Houston this year.

Collisions on Houston freeways dropped 12 percent in the first two months of this year compared with the same period in 2003 and 2004, White announced Tuesday. He attributes the improvement, at least partly, to a mandatory towing program that took effect Jan. 1.

The mayor reported 2,177 freeway crashes in January and February of this year, down from 2,489 in the first two months of 2003 and 2,469 last year.

"On an annual basis, extrapolating this out, that would be over a thousand fewer accidents over a full year," said the mayor. "That is a tremendous benefit to the people of the City of Houston. We're proud."

Critics point out that accidents were already decreasing a year before Safe Clear on eight of the 13 highways involved in the study.

The Texas A&M professor who conducted the study admits that two months isn't long enough to draw conclusions about the success of the story.

White, who has maneuvered around several political potholes while championing the Safe Clear towing program, also touted statistics showing improved response time to wrecks and stalled vehicles, as well as a decrease in the time it takes to clear such incidents.

The statistics, coming at the end of the first quarter, will serve as political ammunition in White's quest to validate the controversial program, saying it is achieving its goals of improving highway safety and reducing traffic congestion caused by crashes and stalled vehicles.

White was elected mayor in December 2003 on a platform that included a pledge to "get Houston moving." He immediately formed a Mayor's Office of Mobility to focus on transportation issues and quickly won points with motorists with popular pledges such as one to synchronize traffic signals.

The towing law, however, drew stiff opposition in some circles after it took effect. White scrambled to propose modifications, then struck a deal with a local state senator to save the program from a likely death in the Legislature.

The mayor acknowledges his original plan had flaws but stresses that the city has made the necessary changes. The "phenomenal" data on collisions and response time prove Safe Clear is achieving results, White said.

Since Jan. 1, there have been 12,778 vehicles towed under Safe Clear, according to the Office of Mobility.

Critics want to know more details.

"It basically sounds like it's half of a study," Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs told the Chronicle. She was one of two council members to vote against amendments to Safe Clear in February that included eliminating the $75 minimum tow fee and offering motorists a "free tow" for which the city would reimburse wreckers $50.

"The half that is missing is the part that would tell us what taxpayers need to know about the costs of Safe Clear. What is Safe Clear really costing?" said Sekula-Gibbs.

Sekula-Gibbs said she worries that other city services are being cut to pay for and staff the towing program.

"I've asked that and not been given any answers," she said. "I'm very concerned about the unanswered questions."

White could not provide the Chronicle with precise figures showing the cost of Safe Clear. He has raised his estimate of the free tows' cost to $900,000 per year. The Metropolitan Transit Authority has since agreed to fund up to $442,000 in courtesy tows for the city.

Houston police Monday could not provide the number of city-paid tows to date.

With increased costs for police officers on the freeways, at the Houston TranStar traffic-control center and in the unit that regulates the towing companies, the mayor estimates the program will cost the city about $500,000 or $600,000 per year after contract fees from the companies that control the freeway zones are exhausted.

"You could do a small grade separation and it would cost several million dollars," White said. "So by any measure of cost effectiveness, this is a bargain for the taxpayers in terms of improved mobility."

David Saperstein, White's mobility chairman, said the cost is small compared with the safety and traffic benefits.

"The most important thing is to save lives," he said. "You do that by reducing accidents. When you do that, you improve congestion and improve mobility. It's all a direct response."

Small wrecker companies left out of Safe Clear remain adamantly opposed and have sued in federal court to stop the exclusive contracts paid for by competitors for the right to patrol the freeways and tow cars.

Suzanne Poole, president of the Houston Professional Towing Association, said she receives reports from members about delayed responses to freeway scenes on police scanners. She questions how the city is gathering that data, noting there's no measure of how long a motorist waited but rather how long it took a wrecker to arrive once called.

"When the truck pulls up directly on a vehicle, there is no time lag," Poole said. "There is no dispatch time. He's calling TranStar and saying, 'Here's a vehicle in front of me.' That's zero response time. You average that with the other ones and yeah, you're going to come up with some pretty decent figures."