Safe Clear-ing local freeways?

Mayor Bill White used statistics about freeway accidents Tuesday as evidence that the Safe Clear program is working. Analysis of traffic data by officials at Rice University and the Texas Transportation Institute found freeway crashes in Houston dropped to 13,137 in 2005 from an average of 14,670 in 2003 and 2004.

White also attributed a drop in freeway congestion to the mandatory towing program, for which the city pays about $600,000 of the $3 million annual cost. "We're proud of the Safe Clear program," he said. "It's the most cost effective transportation and traffic program we have." Don't get us wrong — Houstonist likes Safe Clear. It's really nice to drive on local freeways and not have to worry about nearly being run off the road by three dozen wreckers racing to an accident scene. But it seems to us that it's a stretch to say the progam prevented 1,500 freeway wrecks last year. Seems that could have been the result of something else — oh, say people driving better, for example.

Whether or not the mandatory tows have prevented accidents, we're sure they've cut down on freeway congestion. Now if the city could just find a way to outlaw rubbernecking ...