Abandoned cars on freeway a problem in El Paso

Abandoned vehicles are a regular feature along El Paso’s freeways.

Many are parked on the shoulder, left for days, becoming potential traffic hazards for thousands of drivers, who are already dealing with many obstacles because of all the construction on El Paso’s roadways.

After seeing one vehicle in the same spot for more than a week, ABC-7 went looking for answers about why so many vehicles are left on our freeway system. After all, in addition to compromising your own safety, those who leave vehicles behind on the shoulder create a safety hazard for other drivers.

“Try to get them off the freeway as soon as you can,” El Paso Police spokesman Enrique Carrillo said. “As far as the police department, we’ll give them a 10 hour notice, if we go out there on a complaint. Or if an officer happens to spot them, we’ll tag the car with a big orange notice advising them they have 10 hours to move the vehicle.”

Under the Texas Transportation Code “a vehicle may be impounded with no time restriction if it is disabled and the owner is not within the vicinity, or if it is unattended and there are reasonable grounds to believe it’s been abandoned longer than 48 hours.”

“Hopefully, it’ll be done by then,” Carrillo said. “If not, we get another complaint, and the vehicle will then be towed.”

ABC-7 spotted five cars abandoned on the freeway a recent Monday morning, but none with an orange notice for removal within 10 hours. A Pontiac Solstice was left recently on I-10 West near the Executive Center exit for eight consecutive days. So ABC-7 asked El Paso Police how that can happen.

“Well, I mean, it just depends,” Carrillo said. “If somebody can call on it and let us know its there (that helps).”

Carrillo agreed that 24 to 48 hours, unless a car is tagged with a 10 hour removal notice, is plenty of time to remove disabled vehicles from the freeway.

“That’s more than ample time to make arrangements to get a vehicle moved from the freeway,” Carrillo said.

The Pontiac left near Executive Center has since been picked up. Carrillo said if you don’t move your car, and police end up towing it off, there will be heavy impound and storage fees to pay.

TxDOT officials told ABC-7 if they spot an abandoned car on the freeway, they alert police, but it’s up to them to remove it. If you spot an abandoned vehicle on the freeway for more than a day, alert police so they can have it towed.