HOUSTON -- Houston Mayor Bill White and Houston Police Department Chief Harold Hurtt flew above the city Thursday to see how the Safe Clear traffic incident response program is working on the streets.

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White: Safe Clear Program To Help Drivers With Financial Hardships

White and Hurtt took a helicopter tour of the city during morning rush hour Thursday to check in on the city's new towing ordinance. But, before going out on the bird's eye tour, White defended the controversial new law.

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"We are working hard to make sure that Houston's freeways are safer and that traffic gets moving in this city," White said.

Safe Clear calls for the immediate towing of all disabled or abandoned vehicles on Houston's freeways at the owner's expense. The controversial system is meant to keep streets clear, but some commuters complain the policy isn't fair to drivers or tow companies.

While flying over Houston's freeways Thursday morning, the mayor and police chief said they were surprised by how long it took to clear the freeway in several instances.

"We want a very expedited dispatcher authorization of the tow. That is what our goal is. We did see some folks waiting," White said.

Some wrecker drivers have blamed the problem on a communication breakdown between Houston TranStar and HPD.

The mayor and chief said they are planning a meeting to clear up any confusion.

"One of the things that we really got to concentrate on is responsiveness and being able to get the authorization of the tow," Hurtt said.

Since the program began, drivers have complained that they were not given enough time to fix their vehicles or they didn't have money to pay for the mandatory tow.

The mayor said he would expand the Safe Clear program to help drivers with a financial hardship.

"It is something we need to address and find a solution to for people with hardship cases," White said.

White also pointed out that the mandatory $75 fee is much lower than the fee was before the city instituted the program. He said he plans to announce some sort of hardship plan within a week.

Under the program, 11 towing companies have contracts with the city to respond to all disabled vehicles within six minutes. The minimum cost of the tow is $75.