Abandoned cars, often seen along routes 283 and 222, soon become the targets of vandals — for the sport of it.
Casey Kraus, Northwest Regional police chief, surveys a smashed rear window in a car that had been towed to Cocker's Towing Inc.
By David O’connor
Published Aug 18, 2006 14:37
Correct that ... where the rear windshield should have been.
And it’s just a mile or two up the road, in this case Route 283, before you see the second one, with the same smashed rear window, and a broken light or two thrown into the mix.
One local police chief calls it “kind of like a sporting event ... a bizarre one.”
And it’s a sporting event that motorists whose vehicles break down, and then for whatever reason take their time getting it towed, inadvertently encourage.
Vehicles that break down and get left on the roadside, are becoming, more and more, popular targets for vandals.
The vandals are often joyriders who warm up their pitching arms by tossing a rock, beer bottle or other projectile from their passing car.
Throw into the mix thieves looking for car parts, and the abandoned vehicles are just too easy a target to pass up, area police say.
It’s illegal to just dump your car along the road for extended periods of time.
Still, area police believe there are more incidents of vandalized broken-down cars now than in years past — maybe because there are more targets, says Casey Kraus, a veteran police chief here.
“That’s because of the sheer numbers ... there are just more cars, and more cars on the road means more cars breaking down,” says Kraus, of the Northwest Regional Police Department, which covers Mount Joy and West Donegal townships.
It’s hard to catch the vandals, he points out: “Unless somebody would happen to see them, and most people aren’t so stupid that they’ll do it when there’s a car close by and the driver could get their license plate.”
Another area police chief, Brian Brandt of West Earl Township, agrees there are more dumped vehicles on roadsides now than in the past, but says stiffer fines for abandoning vehicles seem to be helping.
“We find, often, that the cars that remain on the side of the road are inoperable ... they just need major work,” Brandt says.
His township force, which has eight officers plus him, patrols some 75 miles of roads, including seven miles of Route 222, the busy highway through northeastern Lancaster County.
“We want to help people understand that they just can’t leave their vehicles,” he says.
“It always mystifies me, especially when there are always ads in the paper, ‘I will tow your car for free.’”
In the county’s northwest, Kraus says this summer’s hot streak meant more cars overheating and breaking down, especially on highways like 283: “And in the bitter, bitter cold you see more of them, too, maybe since their antifreeze isn’t in tune or whatever.”
Who would leave their broken-down vehicle on the side of the road for days at a time, making for an inviting target for troublemakers?
“I think a lot of it comes down to finances, people not able to pay for a tow,” Kraus says.
A 26-year veteran of law enforcement, he has heard other stories.
There was one from a Lancaster-area woman who told police she thought her car had broken down on 283 “somewhere around Rheems,” but actually it was down near State Road, closer to Lancaster.
Under the state vehicle code, there’s a $500 fine, plus costs, for abandoning your car, up from the former fine of $50.
“I think increasing the fine has helped,” Brandt says, and when you throw in the state costs and towing fees, it can set you back as much as $800, the West Earl chief adds.
That cost is even before that rock or beer bottle finds your back windshield.
So don’t waste any time, and “get a tow truck to get it off of there right away,” Kraus urges.
“It could be damaged, and there are times they’re more than just damaged ... cars that are broken into, dashboards that are ripped apart for their stereos and other parts,” he says.
Route 283 is the scene of many of these, with “an awful lot of traffic out there on that road on a given day ... it’s a moving city along there.”
East of Lancaster, East Lampeter Township also sees the occasional problem of vandalized roadside vehicles, says police Lt. Rob Eachus.
“We haven’t had a rash of them, but we do see it from time to time,” he says.
Eachus reminds drivers it’s illegal to abandon a vehicle. Cars that are found along the road in the suburban township are tagged by East Lampeter officers, and must be removed within 96 hours.
Leave your car along the side of the road, and it could fall prey to another scam, Eachus adds.
A tow truck you see hauling a car isn’t always a legitimate operator who got the call to come remove the vehicle. Some car thieves use a tow truck to try and look legitimate, when in fact they’re stealing the vehicle, Eachus says.
Even if it wasn’t illegal, it would probably not be a good idea to leave your car on the side of the road, another police official here says. “Especially in the wintertime, with snowplows going past ... your car would just be a sitting duck,” he says.
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