Bill Would Require Police to Aid Drivers

State and local police officers would be required to stop and aid motorists stranded on freeways or darkened streets under a bill passed 35-0 by the state Senate Monday.

The bill by Assemblyman Dominic Cortese (D-San Jose) was inspired by the fate of a 27-year-old San Diego woman who was raped earlier this year after she was stranded for four hours on Interstate 5.

The bill was sent back to the Assembly for a vote on minor Senate changes. Meanwhile, another bill inspired by the incident, allowing an increase in auto registration fees to pay for emergency call boxes, was on its way to Gov. George Deukmejian’s desk.

Essentially, Cortese’s bill makes statewide law out of policy begun by San Diego Police Chief Bill Kolender after the woman was raped at gunpoint.

The woman said several police, sheriff and California Highway Patrol cruisers passed her on the freeway before she finally accepted a ride from a stranger.

State Sen. William Craven (R-Oceanside), whose bill won legislative approval last week, had originally written the measure to affect only San Diego County.

But it was amended to allow any county to add a $1 surcharge to vehicle registrations to pay for installing, operating and maintaining a call box system.

Although the bill is optional, local officials in San Diego have already begun plans to install emergency call boxes along the county’s 283 miles of freeway.