Welcome to issue 12 of Crash Towing Industry News.
Our regular newsletters provide important updates about the crash towing industry reforms including legislative changes that may affect how you operate.
On 10 January 2025, new requirements for crash towing came into effect. This newsletter seeks to assist industry in understanding how certain terms are defined in the Towing Services Act 2024 (the Act) and Towing Services Regulations 2025 (the Regulations), and what these terms mean.
What is regulated towing?
The term regulated towing is defined in the Act to mean crash towing. Provisions have been made in the Act for regulations to be made in the future to extend regulated towing to also mean breakdown towing if there is evidence that concerns have transferred to breakdown towing.
Further, the Act clarifies that the term regulated towing does not include towing from private parking areas which is regulated under Part 6A of the Road Traffic Act 1974.
What is crash towing?
Crash towing is the towing of a vehicle that has been involved in a vehicle crash from:
- the place where the collision or impact occurred; or
- a place within a 2 km radius of the place where the collision or impact occurred; or
- a place to which the vehicle has been moved by, or with the authority of a public entity or a person employed in, or engaged for the purposes of, a public entity for the purpose of preventing or minimising any harm, risk, hazard or obstruction caused by the vehicle, for example a Main Roads ‘safe tow’; or
- within a 2 km radius of a place a vehicle has been towed to by a public entity to prevent or minimise any harm, risk, hazard or obstruction caused by the vehicle.
The 2 km crash site radius is necessary to establish an area where controls on the conduct and behaviours of towing workers and towing service providers apply, and to extend crash towing protection measures to vehicles that have, for example, been damaged but were pushed or driven a short distance by the owner to a quieter location.
For example, vehicles A and B collide on a suburban street. Vehicle A is pushed to the side of the road by the driver and vehicle B is driven to the home of the driver which is around the corner a distance of 1.2 km. In this example the towing of both vehicle A and B would be considered crash towing.
What is a vehicle crash?
A vehicle crash is a collision or impact that:
- results in damage to a vehicle and occurs on a road, or in a public place; or
- results in damage to a vehicle and occurs in a place other than on a road or in a public place if, immediately before the collision or impact, the vehicle was on a road or in a public place.
For example, a vehicle is travelling down a suburban road, and the driver has lost control, and the vehicle has left the road and collided into a private property. This would be considered a vehicle crash and therefore the towing would be considered to be crash towing.
What is a crash site?
The Regulations introduced the term crash site, along with new requirements for the conduct and behaviour of towing workers when at a crash site.
You should be aware that a crash site means a place where a vehicle that has been involved in a vehicle crash is present; and that is:
- the place where the collision or impact occurred; or
- a place within a 2 km radius of the place where the collision or impact occurred; or
- a place to which the vehicle has been moved by, or with the authority of a public entity or a person employed in, or engaged for the purposes of, a public entity for the purpose of preventing or minimising any harm, risk, hazard or obstruction caused by the vehicle, for example a Main Roads ‘safe tow’; or
- within a 2 km radius of a place a vehicle has been towed to by a public entity to prevent or minimise any harm, risk, hazard or obstruction caused by the vehicle.
Therefore, a crash site is not limited to the place where an impact or collision occurred.
For example, two vehicles are involved in a vehicle crash on the Mitchell Freeway heading south just past the Erindale Road on ramp during peak hour traffic. Vehicle A has minor body damage and is driven a distance of approximately 1.3 km to the nearest exit at Karrinyup Road where the relevant person finds a side street to park and calls his insurance company, who advises the owner to have the vehicle towed. Vehicle B has substantial damage, and the driver is in shock. A Main Roads towing contractor is sent to move vehicle B as it is obstructing traffic and poses a risk to all road users. Vehicle B is towed a distance of approximately 4.3 kms to the Cedric Street off ramp to a parking bay where the owner arranges to have vehicle B towed. In this example both vehicle A and B would be considered to be at the crash site as vehicle A is within in a 2 km radius of the vehicle crash and vehicle B is within 2 km of the place vehicle B was towed to by a Main Roads contractor.
The image below depicting the above example is not to scale has been provided for illustrative purposes only.
Who is a relevant person?
You may see references in DoT documents to the relevant person for a vehicle. A relevant person is a person who is entitled to the immediate possession of the vehicle (usually the vehicle owner), or the driver of the vehicle.
A relevant person may sign an authority to tow form to tow a vehicle from a crash site and must be notified by a towing worker as soon as practicable, but in any event within 4 hours, if due to unforeseen circumstances it is not possible to tow a vehicle to the address nominated on the authority to tow form.
For example, the relevant person signs an authority to tow form nominating that the vehicle is towed to a smash repairers located at 1 Sample Street, Perth. On the way to this location, it becomes apparent to the towing worker that the vehicle cannot be towed to the nominated location as there is an out of control bushfire and the roads to 1 Sample Street, Perth have been closed. The towing worker then tows the vehicle to a storage yard operated by the towing service provider and notifies the relevant person, as soon as practicable after the vehicle arrives at the other location, of the location to which the vehicle has been towed.
A relevant person (or their agent) is to be given access to a vehicle in storage and is liable for the payment of towing and storage charges (if applicable).
Join us at an industry information session
DoT has conducted several information sessions to support the commencement of the Towing Services Act 2024, its supporting regulations, and associated activities.
Future information sessions will be based on industry demand. To express your interest in attending a future session in Perth, Peel, regional areas or online, please register your interest by completing the form below
Contact us
If you are unable to locate the information you require on our website, please submit your enquiry below or contact us on (08) 9320 4111 between 8 am to 4.30 pm weekdays.
