CHP, County Move to Get Radar Patrols in Canyon

The California Highway Patrol and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors are negotiating a plan to allow radar patrols on Topanga Canyon Boulevard to cut down on speeding.

Dawson Oppenheimer, an aide to Supervisor Mike Antonovich, said no decision on the use of radar will be made until the CHP and the state Department of Transportation complete a study of speed-related accidents on the boulevard. However, both Oppenheimer and the CHP said the study is expected to confirm that radar should be used.

County supervisors voted Oct. 7 to request the radar at the urging of Topanga Canyon residents.

State money for radar is heavily restricted because of opposition by many legislators. But the CHP has partnerships with several county boards that have purchased radar equipment for the patrol cars, as Los Angeles County will do if the proposal is approved by Caltrans.

Jan Moore, president of the Topanga Canyon Town Council, said the community asked Antonovich to back the proposal because commuter traffic between the San Fernando Valley and Santa Monica has filled the canyon with speeders.

“We’re trying to make this road safer because it is terribly dangerous now,” Moore said. “The commuters heading for the freeway seem to think this is a racecourse--I mean zooooom!”

Speeds up to 55 m.p.h. are allowed on the boulevard, which is a state highway, but speeds in some areas are restricted to 30 m.p.h., Moore said.

“People just ignore those speeds,” she said. “Schoolchildren walk home . . . and get the early commuters coming home, and this is really dangerous.”

CHP Officer Craig Klein said radar is now used “with great success” along Pacific Coast Highway and on Kanan Dume Road.

“We obviously favor the use of radar in Topanga because of the increase in accidents there,” Oppenheimer said.

However, CHP statistics show no increase in speed-related accidents over the last four years in Topanga Canyon. In fact, according to the CHP, the number of accidents attributed to speeding drivers actually dropped, from 44 in 1983 to 31 in 1985.

Nevertheless, Klein said the CHP “is wholeheartedly behind” the proposal, which he said will cut down not only on speeding, but on another major cause of accidents, attempts to pass slow-moving cars.

CHP statistics show that attempts to pass are the third-largest cause of accidents on Topanga Canyon Boulevard--behind speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Klein said such accidents are a persistent problem in the twisting canyon, where slower drivers create traffic backups.

Klein said the probable outcome of the Caltrans-CHP study will be a proposal for a one-year trial of radar patrols, perhaps in combination with reduced speed limits in the canyon.