Abandoned Vehicles

http://www.popcenter.org/problems/abandoned_vehicles/

Abandoned Vehicles
Guide No. 53 (2008)

by Mike Maxfield
The Problem of Abandoned Vehicles

This guide begins by describing the problem of abandoned vehicles and reviewing factors that increase its risks. It then identifies a series of questions to help you analyze your local abandoned-vehicle problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem, and what is known about them from evaluative research and police practice.

Abandoned vehicles fall within larger sets of problems involving motor vehicle regulation, social disorder, and the illegal disposal of bulky, hazardous waste. Abandoned vehicles are often unregistered and may have defaced identification numbers. Abandoned vehicles attract vandals, may be used for drug drops or prostitution, accumulate refuse, and may be used as shelters by the homeless. Some motor vehicle parts contain hazardous substances, in addition to gasoline and other fluids, that must be properly disposed of.. Old vans and truck trailers may be filled with trash or hazardous waste, then left on roadsides. Individual cars dumped on city streets may contain car parts or other junk.

This guide is limited to addressing the particular harms created by abandoned and other types of derelict vehicles. Related problems not directly addressed in this guide, each of which requires separate analysis, include the following:

drug dealing,
hazardous waste dumping,
homeless people,
illegal dumping,
illegal auto repair and sales,
insurance fraud,
littering,
junk vehicles intentionally kept on private property,
nuisance parking,
prostitution,
scrap metal theft,
unlicensed or unregistered vehicles generally, and
vehicle theft.