REVIEW OF

ACCIDENT TOWING IN COUNTRY CENTRES

PUBLIC RELEASE OF REVIEW REPORT FOR COMMENT

TRANSPORT PLANNING

October 2003

FOREWORD The attached report on the review of accident towing for light and heavy vehicles in country centres is released for public comment. Industry and community views will contribute to the formulation of the Government’s response to the review report and the development of amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act 1959 and the Motor Vehicle (Accident Towing Roster Scheme) Regulations 2000 which may result. BACKGROUND In April 1995, the Competition Principles Agreement was signed along with other agreements on National Competition Policy (“NCP”). These agreements contain various commitments made by governments to implement the National Competition Policy. One of these commitments is that all governments must review and reform legislation which restricts competition. Unless specific circumstances exist that prevent a market from working efficiently the market mechanism should be preferred over the more costly, complex, and limiting alternative of government regulation. In the course of conducting the National Competition Policy Review of accident towing laws under the Motor Vehicles Act 1959 (“NCP Review” – at www.transport.sa.gov.au, under publications, reports), it became apparent that problems were emerging with towing arrangements in country centres. A public discussion paper on towing in country centres was released in May 1999. The response to this paper indicated that operators favoured some regulation of the accident towing industry in the country. A further draft report on accident towing in country centres, recommending that a towing roster similar to the metropolitan system be implemented in country centres, was released for consultation in February 2001. The submissions received indicated majority support for some regulation of the country towing industry. There was almost universal support for tow truck safety standards and restrictions on the behaviour of tow truck operators. However, there was not the same level of support for introducing a roster system in all areas. Based on the submissions received, the attached report was prepared for the Minister, which included four options. The preferred option is to regulate the entire country area of South Australia, by introducing certification of tow truck drivers and registration of operators’ business premises but without adopting a system of rostering. Comments are invited on the scheme proposed in the report. Appendix 1 gives details of the proposed scheme and poses some questions for each area the scheme would regulate. It would be most useful if your comments referred to the section and question numbers used in Appendix 1 and addressed the issues raised in that section. Comments should be made in writing by the close of business 19 December 2003 to: Soula Efstathiadis Transport Planning Department for Transport and Urban Planning P.O. Box 1, WALKERVILLE SA 5081 Fax 08 8343 2880; email Soula.Efstathiadis@transport.sa.gov.au