As the winter weather approaches, the State Highway Patrol along with the N.C. Department of Transportation are reminding motorists to not leave their vehicles abandoned on the shoulders of public roadways. For the safety of the traveling public and to ensure plow and salt trucks can effectively work to clear roads, state officials are working together to identify and move abandoned vehicles that are blocking travel lanes or posing an immediate safety hazard.
Under the current State of Emergency and North Carolina's Quick Clearance Law, NCDOT's IMAP (Incident Management Assistance Patrol) trucks are moving cars abandoned in the roadway to the shoulder where possible. In other cases, the Highway Patrol and local law enforcement are coordinating with towing companies to move vehicles left on the shoulder to a safe location.
Troopers, National Guard soldiers, other law enforcement and IMAP crews are checking all abandoned cars to make sure there are no people inside who need assistance.
Owners of vehicles left abandoned within city limits need to call the respective local police department. Owners of vehicles towed outside of a municipality should refer to the NCDPS website and click on the Vehicles Towed/Stored link. If a vehicle is completely off the roadway and is not considered a safety hazard, it will NOT immediately be towed.
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