If you've got a vehicle with an expired inspection sticker parked on a Pittsburgh street, look out.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl yesterday launched an abandoned vehicle sweep, which will utilize a new state law allowing the city to tow cars, with no warning, if the inspection stickers are more than three months post-expiration.

He said that in short order, salvors with city contracts will snatch up some 200 vehicles that have been sitting on city streets for months.

After a backlog of some 400 known abandoned cars is cleared, the city's team of five police officers will deal with abandoned cars as quickly as they are reported.

"Once we have the ability to deal with the backlog, we will be able to [tow reported cars] in one day," Mr. Ravenstahl said.

State law previously imposed time-consuming notification requirements on the city before cars could be towed. State legislation passed earlier this year eliminated those requirements.

Now people like the owner of a Toyota Cressida with expired stickers taken from Baywood Street yesterday will get no advance notice if their vehicles are on public property. They will get a letter after the fact telling them where they can find their vehicle and ransom it. If they don't within 30 days, it can be sold or scrapped.

The city pays nothing for the towing service, the mayor said.

Police Chief Nate Harper said cars like the Cressida, which had a garbage bag taped over the place where a window should have been, are often used as drop-off points for drugs. They can be safety hazards, too, especially if children play on or around them.

He said the city has one officer in each zone assigned to deal with abandoned vehicles, and now they will work together as members of the bureau's Special Deployment Division. When needed, they will descend on a single zone or neighborhood in an effort to eradicate a concentration of abandoned cars.

State Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park, said the Legislature is now considering a measure that would allow municipalities to remove abandoned cars from private property under the same expedited procedures.