(a) Should the owner or driver of a vehicle involved in an accident within the unincorporated area of the county request the services of a particular wrecker service or operator (whether or not such service is on the approved lists hereafter mentioned), the law enforcement officer who is in charge at the scene of the accident shall so inform his dispatcher who will thereupon call the requested wrecker service or operator and ask such service or operator to proceed to the scene of the accident.
(b) If the owner or driver of the vehicle involved in the accident expresses no preference or has no information as to available wrecker services, the following procedures shall apply:
(1) For purposes of this article, all references to “zones” will mean those established for wrecker services by the South Carolina Highway Patrol District.
(2) All wrecker services operating within the unincorporated areas of the county who wish to assist in an accident shall make application to the state highway patrol on the form set forth in appendix A to this article, sending a copy of such application to the county sheriff’s office. Wrecker operators meeting the requirements set forth in appendix B to this article, will be placed on lists of participating wrecker services which shall be maintained by the sheriff’s communication center. Approval may be withdrawn from an approved wrecker if at any time it fails to meet the requirements of appendix B, but no such action shall be taken unless the wrecker service fails to correct a deficiency after 30 days’ written notice. Separate lists shall be maintained for heavy duty wreckers. No wrecker service shall be placed on the rotation list for a particular zone unless the service is physically located within that zone; provided, that if a wrecker service has a separate business and storage lot in more than 1 zone, it may place its name on the rotation list in any zone where such separate business and storage lot are located.
(3) Law enforcement officers shall make no recommendation to the owner or driver of a disabled vehicle as to their preference of a wrecker service.
(4) When called by a law enforcement officer, the dispatcher will refer to the list of wrecker operators located in the zone in which the accident occurred and call the wrecker operator or service which appears next on the list after the name of the last operator which has been called. If a particular wrecker service is unavailable when called, the dispatcher shall call the next service on the list. Where the law enforcement officer at the scene indicates that the services of a heavy duty wrecker are needed and the owner or driver has no preference as to a wrecker service, the dispatcher will call the next available operator appearing on the heavy duty rotation list.
(5) If the highway patrol or the sheriff’s office advises the dispatcher that the wrecker service which next appears on the list is incapable of handling the particular task, the dispatcher shall call the next available service which is capable of handling the task, but in that event the service which was passed over shall remain on the top of the rotation list.
(1976 Code, § 14-32) (Ord. 814, § 3; Ord. 1103, § 1, passed 4-19-1983; Ord. 1146, § 1, passed 7-19-1983)