Accident Towing Services Act

Map showing the Australian State of Victoria
A car being loaded onto a flatbed tow truck.

The Accident Towing Services Act 2007 is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia.[1] The act is the prime statute regulating the vehicle towing industry which provides towing and recovery services for light and heavy road vehicles across Victoria. It is predominately founded on safety and consumer protection sentiments. The act continued economic controls over the industry and contains occupational regulation characteristics. The style of the underlying regulatory scheme varies in parts and represents a blend which is prescriptive in some parts and performance and process-based in others.

The Accident Towing Services Act was the first dedicated statute regulating Victoria's towing industry and replaced provisions in the former Transport Act 1983.[2] The act generally strengthened the scheme of regulation for accident towing activity in Victoria and, at the same time, deregulated trade towing industry controls. In essence, towing vehicles damaged in a road accident and the individuals working in that sector are subject to tight controls while trade towing activities such as breakdown towing have few controls.

The Accident Towing Services Act was passed by the Victorian Parliament on 17 July 2007 and commenced on 1 January 2009. The act was developed as part of the Transport Legislation Review conducted by the Department of Transport and is aimed at promoting the safe, efficient and timely provision of towing and related services particularly following road accidents.[3]

The act forms part of the transport policy and legislation framework in Victoria headed by the Transport Integration Act 2010.[4] As a result, the application of the Accident Towing Services Act is subject to the overarching transport system vision, transport system objectives and decision-making principles set out in the Transport Integration Act.

The responsible Victorian Government Minister for the Accident Towing Services Act is the Minister for Roads.

  1. ^ Accident Towing Services Act 2007
  2. ^ This Act has since been renamed. It has carried the title Transport (Compliance and Miscellaneous) Act 1983 since 1 July 2010 by virtue of changes made by the Transport Integration Act 2010.
  3. ^ Accident Towing Services Act 2007, section 1.
  4. ^ Transport Integration Act 2010 - see paragraph (a) in the definition of "transport legislation" in section 3.