FREE TOWING SERVICE NIPS DELAYS IN THE BUD : RUBBERNECKERS DON'T GET A CHANCE TO GAWK.

Byline: Keith Stone Daily News Staff Writer

With a gas can in one hand and a funnel in the other, Robin Hell trudged back to her car on a shoulder of the Ventura Freeway in Woodland Hills recently.

As evening rush-hour traffic whizzed by just a few feet from the 53-year-old Woodland Hills woman, drivers swiveled their heads to look.

It was a traffic jam in the making.

Fortunately, a Freeway Service Patrol tow truck arrived to help Hell get under way quickly and safely, before gawking motorists could back up traffic.

``Everybody wants to slow down and look - especially if a woman is broken down or is under the hood,'' said tow truck driver Mike Dizacomo.

Caltrans, the California Highway Patrol and Metropolitan Transportation Authority began the service in July 1991 with a single goal - to avert rush-hour traffic jams by getting cars back on the road rapidly or towed off the freeway.

Said Hell, ``I didn't know it is available. This is wonderful.''

Traffic engineers and CHP officers alike single out the service as perhaps the best solution for removing the obstacles that cause congestion.

``Those efforts have very profound effect. I am a big fan of the Freeway Service Patrol,'' said Jim Moore, co-director for the Center for Advanced Transportation Technology at the University of Southern California.

Caltrans estimates half of all delays are the result of too many cars and trucks on freeways. Accidents, disabled cars and looky-loos account for the rest.

Motorists are distracted by stranded women and CHP cruisers parked with flashing lights far more often than by men standing at a call box, according to CHP officers and traffic engineers.

``All you need is one person to slow down - and it slows down all lanes of traffic,'' said CHP Lt. Dan Bower, a field operations officer who assisted Caltrans in studying the nature of traffic jams.

Accidents and stalled vehicles create even worse problems: For every minute of blockage, traffic is delayed four minutes, according to a pioneering Caltrans study conducted in the 1970s.

Every morning and evening during rush hour, Freeway Service drivers help about 1,000 stranded motorists, towing about 26 percent of them and making minor repairs for the rest.

Hell was among the 4 percent who need gas each day. Flat tires account for 22 percent of the stops, while mechanical problems make up the bulk, or 25 percent, of the calls.

Stranded motorists don't pay the tow truck drivers a cent; the service is supported through $24 million a year in sales taxes and state grants.

Dizacomo's next stop was the Calabasas Grade on the Ventura Freeway where Al Goulding's car was belching steam. Goulding couldn't believe the service was free at first, and asked a second time.

``Yup,'' said Dizacomo, 31, of Reseda. ``Anything we can do to get you going - for free.''

As it turned out, Goulding's car was beyond quick repairs, so Dizacomo towed it off to a side street. Goulding was thankful just to be off the freeway.

``Sure helped me,'' he said. ``I would've been stuck big time.''

CAPTION(S):

Photo, 2 Charts

Photo: (color) Michael Dizacomo of the Freeway Pa trol Service prepares for a tow.

Terri Thuente/Daily News

Chart: (1--color) PEAK, OFF-PEAK & DAILY AVERAGE HIGHWAY SPEED

(2--color) HOURS OF DELAY AS A PERCENT OF HOURS OF TRAVEL