Radar Patrol to Begin on Ortega Route
California Highway Patrol officers will begin using radar-equipped cars Friday in an effort to reduce the number of serious accidents caused by speeders on narrow, winding Ortega Highway, a patrol spokesman said Wednesday.
The state Legislature, which approved the operation in August, has allowed the CHP to use radar on only one other highway in the state, California 126 in Ventura County.
CHP public affairs officer Ken Daily said that in 1985 and 1986, there were 131 serious accidents resulting in six deaths and 41 injuries on the 13-mile portion of Ortega Highway (California 74) between San Juan Capistrano and the Riverside County line.
Excessive speed was the most common cause, he said.
On the 12 miles of the roadway that run to Lake Elsinore in Riverside County, Officer Bill Wallen said, three people died and 93 were injured in 1985 and the first nine months of 1986.
He said that Riverside County officials have bought radar units but that they have not yet been delivered.
Officials of the California Transportation Department rate the scenic highway as a two-lane rural road and say that, as such, it has had four times more traffic deaths over the years than similarly rated roads in the state.
On the Orange County side, two Mustang patrol cars will be fitted with radar gear, a $5,000 cost approved by the Board of Supervisors, Daily said.
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