Crackdown on Speedy Trucks Also Nets Speedy Cars
A California Highway Patrol program to use specially marked patrol cars in a crackdown down on truckers has proven to be a bane to drivers of cars as well, it was disclosed Wednesday.
About a third of the citations issued under the CHP’s program went to car drivers.
“I can’t in good conscience tell our officers to shield themselves or shut their eyes when a vehicle passes them at an excessive rate of speed,” CHP Commissioner James E. Smith said at a hearing of the Assembly Transportation Committee.
The program uses 15 specially marked solid-color cars that do not have overhead emergency lights but do bear the department’s star and the words “Highway Patrol” on their doors.
According to Smith, 3,098 citations were issued between Jan. 12 and Feb. 11. Of this number, 2,100 citations, 67.8% of the total, were issued to truck drivers and 998 citations were issued to drivers of cars.
Highway stretches included in the pilot program are along California 99 near Bakersfield, Modesto and Merced, along Interstate 880 through Oakland and Hayward, a 15.7-mile segment of Interstate 5 from Anaheim to Irvine and Interstate 710 through Westminster.
During 1985, 989 truck accidents occurred along those targeted highway routes.
The pilot project is scheduled to end Dec. 31. Highway Patrol officials said they are not sure whether they will ask that it be extended. CHP officials are scheduled to deliver a final report on the program’s results three months after its completion.
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