Section 154:7-b Expeditious Clearance of Roadways. - New Hampshire Statutes

Subject to the authority and limitations granted in RSA 154:7, I(c) with respect to a propelled vehicle accident, natural disaster, or special event occurring in or immediately adjacent to a state highway, the fire officer in charge, or if the incident is not within the purview of the fire department, the police officer in charge and all public safety responders shall coordinate their efforts to maintain incident area safety and security, including protection of responders to the incident, protection of roadway users and others at the incident site, movement of road users safely past, around, or away from the incident, reduction of the likelihood of secondary crashes, and expeditious clearance of the roadway.
   I. The fire chief, or in the fire chief's absence the engineer or fire officer in charge, or if the incident is not within the purview of the fire department, the police officer in charge, shall as early as practicable in the response, seek the assistance of law enforcement, emergency medical services, towing and recovery services, the department of transportation, and if applicable, the department of environmental services and the department of health and human services, to effectuate the purposes of this section, and such agencies and individuals may provide such assistance as requested.
   II. Police officers at the scene may treat any non-emergency vehicle that is obstructing traffic as abandoned for the purposes of RSA 262:31 through RSA 262:40-c, and may order its immediate removal, with or without the consent of the owner or operator. Any spilled cargo or other property obstructing traffic may be treated as a vehicle for the purposes of RSA 262:32 through RSA 262:37, and may be subject to immediate removal with or without the consent of the owner or carrier.
   III. Government agencies responding to such incident, including but not limited to law enforcement, firefighting, emergency medical services, hazardous materials teams, transportation agencies, environmental agencies, and other emergency government responders and their agents exercising the incident clearance functions described in this section, shall be exempt from liability for damages resulting from such actions taken pursuant to incident clearance, including those resulting from incident detection and verification, area security and protection, rescue of persons from vehicles and hazardous environments, emergency medical transportation and care, hazardous materials response and containment, fire suppression and elimination, transportation of vehicle occupants, traffic direction and management including the establishment and operation of alternate routes and detours, crash investigation, dissemination of traveler information, temporary roadway repair and facilities restoration, and removal of vehicles and cargo, provided such actions are taken without willful or wanton disregard or gross negligence, and occur at the direction of the fire or police officer in charge.
   IV. Notwithstanding other provisions of law to the contrary, any agency, person, or organization incurring the cost of removing vehicles or cargo, or both, at such an incident, if such removal is authorized by the fire or police officer in charge, shall have the right to compensation for the cost of such removal from the owner or owners of the vehicles.

Source. 2004, 193:2, eff. Jan. 1, 2005.