CHP Radar Patrols Along Ortega Highway Approved

In only the second such experiment in the state, the California Highway Patrol will begin using radar against speeders on Ortega Highway next year, hoping to curb accidents and traffic deaths on the mountain roadway that winds through southern Orange and Riverside counties.

Legislation clearing the way for the yearlong experiment narrowly won final Senate approval Tuesday.

Although no one spoke in opposition to the resolution by Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), it took several minutes for her to round up the 21 votes she needed. Eight senators voted against the measure, which was proposed by the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

One Other Case

California legislators have allowed radar enforcement of the 55-m.p.h. speed limit in only one other location--on California 126 in Ventura County.

Lt. Kent Knight of the California Highway Patrol office in Ventura said traffic accidents along State 126 have declined by 92.8%, injuries by 38.9% and traffic deaths by 12.2% since radar enforcement began there in early 1985.

Orange County Supervisor Thomas F. Riley began urging radar enforcement along Ortega Highway last year. Riley said he had received numerous letters and telephone complaints about speeders on the 25-mile highway, which runs from San Juan Capistrano through the Cleveland National Forest and ends near Lake Elsinore in Riverside County.

Between 1981 and last year, there were 27 traffic deaths on the Orange County segment of the highway, according to Ken Daly, public affairs officer for the CHP’s San Juan Capistrano office. Injury accidents have averaged between 4.8 and 10.5 per month during those years, he said.

Under Bergeson’s resolution, radar patrols will operate on both the Orange County and Riverside County segments of the road. The expense of radar enforcement will be paid by Orange County.

The resolution also requires that the CHP report to the Legislature in 1988 on the experiment’s effectiveness.

Bergeson had initially sought an open-ended authorization for the radar experiment, but the measure was amended in the Assembly to limit it to one year.