New Rice University report shows Houston SafeClear program reduces collisions, saves money

BY FRANZ BROTZEN
Rice News staff

The city of Houston’s SafeClear program to remove disabled vehicles from roadways reduces auto accidents and has resulted in monthly cost savings of $4 million to the driving public, according to a new Rice University study.

The study, ”SafeClear Performance Report 2008,” was co-authored by Robert Stein, the Lena Gohlman Fox Professor of Political Science; Rice research assistants Robert Dahnke and Ben Stevenson; and Tim Lomax of the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M.

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In January 2005, the city of Houston launched its SafeClear traffic incident management program. It was designed to limit many of the problems that arose from the ”free-for-all” that occurred as tow-truck operators raced to service disabled vehicles on Houston freeways. By improving tow-operator response (dividing Houston freeways into segments with assigned operators responsible for specific sections), policymakers believed that they could clear crash scenes quickly as well as cut traffic congestion and reduce the overall number of collisions.

An analysis conducted in 2006 looked at the first year of the program and concluded that the program had been largely successful. The latest study seems to back up the earlier assessment.

”Our report confirms initial analysis from 2006 that showed that the SafeClear program works,” said Stein. ”Nearly all of the goals of the program have been met, and it is performing very well.”

Stein presented the findings of the ”SafeClear Performance Report 2008” to the Houston City Council at a public meeting Sept. 14.

The report found that in 2008, 89.8 percent of tow calls were responded to within six minutes, just short of the 90 percent goal. Response time (how fast a tow operator arrives at a disabled vehicle) is correlated with the volume of collisions –