Randy's Bad Luck Continues.....

[SilverOrb]

Question... And I swear I am not just being a smartass.

Is it legal to leave a dog in the car that is being towed? Got in a wreck the other day, 3 people 1 pit/chow/ stuffed animal.

Tow driver kept trying to convince me to do that, but it didn't feel safe to me. Cop ended up giving me and my dog a ride to my other car.

-Silver

[wolfie]

Funny thing is where I am from it would be legal to do just that!

Our driving law specifies that when you have a learners permit you cannot have more occupants than seatbelts but make no such condition once you have your full license.

Does this mean that someone with a learner's permit is prohibited from driving older cars, such as the '55 Chevy (or even a Model T Ford) which never had seat belts in the first place?

[Argabarga]

Is it legal to leave a dog in the car that is being towed?

As far as I know, it's not. The laws governing pets in cars are more concerned they not be a distraction to a driver. Though I haven't looked into it, I'm pretty sure there some wording in the vehicles code that it's illegal to have a pet "loose" in a car and they have to be in a carrying case/cage, but there's nothing I know of that makes it illegal to be in a car getting towed.

Now, I wouldn't do it (tow the car with any living thing in it) because in the oft chance something really bad happens to the car you're towing, you'd like to be able to jettison it like an expended wing-tank on an F-15 and not have to rescue any extra living entities inside it first.

That said, I have had to tow cars with pets in them on one notable occasion, because said pets had accidentally hit the "lock" button while the owner was outside calling for the tow on his cell, and, I'd left my lockout tools at home that day, so there was no way to get them out until we got back to the garage where extra help was available.

I know someone who didn't get a biscuit that day.

[mathnerd]

Is it legal to leave a dog in the car that is being towed?

I nearly had to do just that when I broke down in Phoenix a while back. The tow truck that was responding didn't have an extended cab, and even if it did, we probably couldn't have fit the four people, plus the two dogs (one of whom is a mastiff) in even an extended cab tow truck. My auto club had arranged a cab, but they were adamant that they wouldn't allow the dogs into the cab. In the end, that cab company was delayed in getting to us, though the tow truck driver was more than willing to wait until the cab got there to start loading my car. During the wait, the tow truck driver flagged down a passing cab that was a mini-van (it was rush hour traffic smack in the middle of downtown), and had enough time in the slow moving traffic to ask the cab driver if he was free, ask if he could take dogs, and get him to pull over and pick us up. I called the original cab company and told them they were no longer needed, but thanks, and we all piled into the cab/van. If it weren't for perfect timing, I'd have had no choice but to leave the dogs in my car while it was being towed. Neither the tow truck driver or the safety patrol officer who'd stopped (and gave us water, as we were down to our last gallon with as much as an hour wait before the tow was expected to arrive) said anything about that being against the law. I'd have hated it, but sometimes you have to do unpleasant things in life. At the moment, I just wanted to get me, my three kids and my two dogs off the side of I-10.