Narrative:

I was working local west when the city vehicle called and asked for a runway inspection of runway 15L; I gave the city vehicle permission to proceed onto runway 15L. I had an arrival to runway 15R and verified with the pilot that he was indeed lining up for runway 15R. The pilot verified that he would be landing runway 15R. I also had tagged the city vehicle on the asde-X. I picked up the visual aid to place on the strip podium but the visual aid fell out of its protective sleeve. I started to try to fix the visual aid while someone tried engaging me in a conversation that I tried to stay out of but did answer specific questions. I dropped the visual aid again while trying to fix it. It fell on the table below and then my attention was directed elsewhere at taxing traffic. Looking ahead to the taxing traffic the visual aid that I was trying to repair was now in the wrong position; as I was also looking for tape that might be lying around to fix it. I then again felt just fine scanned the runway and did not notice anything as an aircraft was ready for take off. I think the city vehicle tag had dropped off of the primary target; something that I have heard of it doing before. I then cleared the aircraft for take off. Shortly after the aircraft began take off role the city vehicle called clear of runway 15L at [taxiway] wl. After the aircraft had gotten airborne he reported that the vehicle might not have been clear of the runway when he was rolling but didn't sound sure. I verified the city vehicle was clear and proceeded with the operation until I was relived shortly after. I am beside myself and have a hard time believing I allowed myself to get distracted with the visual aid repair and then forget to get a report from the city vehicle that he was off the runway. I should not have tried to fix the visual aid on my own and should have used a different reminder in its place. I am not sure how relevant the brief period of nausea was but it may have caused loss of focus. I wanted all circumstances to be known as to why this mistake happened.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Tower Controller described a ground conflict event when clearing an aircraft for departure without making sure that an airport vehicle on the runway had cleared.

Narrative: I was working Local West when the City vehicle called and asked for a runway inspection of Runway 15L; I gave the City vehicle permission to proceed onto Runway 15L. I had an arrival to Runway 15R and verified with the pilot that he was indeed lining up for Runway 15R. The pilot verified that he would be landing Runway 15R. I also had tagged the City vehicle on the ASDE-X. I picked up the visual aid to place on the strip podium but the visual aid fell out of its protective sleeve. I started to try to fix the visual aid while someone tried engaging me in a conversation that I tried to stay out of but did answer specific questions. I dropped the visual aid again while trying to fix it. It fell on the table below and then my attention was directed elsewhere at taxing traffic. Looking ahead to the taxing traffic the visual aid that I was trying to repair was now in the wrong position; as I was also looking for tape that might be lying around to fix it. I then again felt just fine scanned the runway and did not notice anything as an aircraft was ready for take off. I think the City vehicle tag had dropped off of the primary target; something that I have heard of it doing before. I then cleared the aircraft for take off. Shortly after the aircraft began take off role the City vehicle called clear of Runway 15L at [Taxiway] WL. After the aircraft had gotten airborne he reported that the vehicle might not have been clear of the runway when he was rolling but didn't sound sure. I verified the City vehicle was clear and proceeded with the operation until I was relived shortly after. I am beside myself and have a hard time believing I allowed myself to get distracted with the visual aid repair and then forget to get a report from the City vehicle that he was off the runway. I should not have tried to fix the visual aid on my own and should have used a different reminder in its place. I am not sure how relevant the brief period of nausea was but it may have caused loss of focus. I wanted all circumstances to be known as to why this mistake happened.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.