“Pulling Cars Out Of The Ditch”

Hi All;

This came up at coffee break so I thought I would ask...

When I see a car in the ditch on a secondary road ( not a divided hiway) and the car seems undamaged, what is the legalities of offering to pull it out?

Thanks

Pat

just civil liabilities and insurance risks....should your chain/rope/strap/cable break and your vehicle :

- slides back into the other vehicle

- the chain/rope/strap/cable whiplashes into something or someone

- damage (fender, plastic, etc..)to vehicle pulled

- what if the vehicle rolls over

Possible HTA offences if:

- strike another vehicle using the road

- cause a collision

Possible Criminal Offence: If there is a further collision...Dangerous Driving....but circumstances would dictate this

Towing companies have insurance to cover the possibilities of vehicle removal problems. Towing will call police for certain situations for traffic control.

- don't put yourself in a bad position should something go wrong.

Thanks Hwybear;

I used to drive tow truck and use a winch. Also I only do simple pulls.

Pat

Same here (not the tow truck driving, but the simple pulls). No unibodies and no all-season tires. Hard to hook up properly to a unibody as I do not carry that J/T/R-hook cluster, and the all-season guys are on their own as far as I'm concerned. Normally I only hook up if there is a clearly accessible attachment point. Only time I might consider otherwise is if tow trucks are held up for more than three hours and it's a long way to the nearest Timmies.

A lot of judgement comes into play to make sure your good deed goes unpunished, and I'm guessing you have quite a bit of experience with that being an ex tow truck driver. Most guys just get offered a cell phone, and some even get left in the ditch where they belong.