Eric Richardson [Flickr]

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Tow truck drivers have a poor reputation, and likely it's one that's well deserved. Yesterday on Flower street I saw a counterpoint to the negative arguments, though.

It was just after 3pm, the time when the right side of Flower street becomes no parking. Parking enforcement was toward the end of the block, ticketing cars still in the tow-away zone. This truck was back toward 7th, waiting for the go-ahead to haul the cars away.

A driver less than mindful of the signage attempted to pull into a spot mid-block. He started to get out of his car and walk away, but the tow truck driver honked and motioned him to the other side of the street, where parking was still legal. It took several iterations of this before the driver caught on and moved his car. A little thing to be sure, but it was nice to see a tow truck driver encouraging legal parking.