By using technology to monitor traffic on the major freeways 24 hours per day, city traffic specialists can see an accident when it occurs and recommend to police and tow truckers the most efficient route to take to the scene. Drivers, rather than pulling over to change a flat tire or exchange insurance information, are towed to nearby lots for charges that range from $58 to $115.
The quick-tow idea, promoted by the Texas Department of Transportation, is that if disruptions are out of sight, they'll be out of mind--or at least out of the minds of potential rubber-neckers. And that should reduce congestion, since it takes five minutes for traffic flow to recover for every minute of delay in moving cars out of traffic lanes or off the shoulders. The DOT notes that the ensuing congestion from an incident causes 60 percent of accidents on Houston's crowded freeways.
No freeway seems to be more crowded than I-10, which was built to handle 80,000 cars a day but is now used by 200,000 commuters, residents driving form one neighborhood to another and truck drivers. "Traffic going out of Houston is equal to traffic coming in all day long," says Norm Wigington of the Texas DOT. With that kind of volume, he adds, any accident--no matter how minor--can cause significant backups.
