Smog Squad Takes Aim at Smoking Cars, Trucks

California Highway Patrol Officer Charles Gibson was driving west on the Pomona Freeway, near downtown Los Angeles, when he spotted the offender.

A blue Toyota pickup left behind a trail of smoky exhaust as it traveled down the right lane.

Gibson switched on his siren, pulled the truck over and gave its driver a citation for polluting the air.

Gibson is a member of the CHP’s newly expanded smog squad.

Working with the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the CHP beefed up its vehicle pollution enforcement program July 1, raising its staff from three to eight officers and adding eight specially marked white patrol cars to its fleet.

Cracking Down

At an annual cost of $725,000, the smog patrol is cracking down on smoking vehicles as the AQMD strives to comply with federal Clean Air Act standards. The CHP officers issue about 60 citations a day to motorists in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Officers decide which vehicles to pull over after conducting a visual inspection of the exhaust. Gasoline engines that release smoke continuously for 10 seconds or more can be pulled over, Gibson said. Diesel engines are allowed to release some smoke; an illustrated card shows officers how much sooty smoke is too much.

First-time offenders receive “dismissible infractions”--citations that can be dismissed without a fine when the CHP receives written proof that the exhaust problem has been resolved. Repeat offenders may be fined up to $100.

Gibson said correcting a smoky exhaust may be as easy as tuning up the engine, or it may involve hundreds of dollars in repairs.

“That’s a fine in itself,” he said.

Backed Patrol

John Gray, who was driving the blue Toyota that Gibson pulled over Thursday, said he supported the smog patrol, despite the citation.

“I think there’s a lot of cars out there that are polluting the air,” he said. “A lot of people aren’t going to do anything about it unless someone gets on their back.”

CHP officials say that is the point of the smog patrol. Although the eight officers cannot stop all smoggy vehicles, they can hand out citations to some of the worst offenders and increase awareness of the problem.

“It’s like any other type of enforcement,” said Joe Wolf, a CHP public affairs officer. “There’s definitely more (polluting) vehicles out there than eight officers can get to.”

Wolf said 56% of the citations issued recently are for large trucks, 27% are for passenger cars, 13% for pickup trucks, 3% for buses and 1% for other vehicles. Overall, he said, 65% of the citations are for diesel vehicles and 35% are for gasoline vehicles.

Smog is formed from both types of vehicle exhaust when hydrocarbons, such as unburned fuel vapors, react in sunlight with products of motor vehicle exhaust called nitrogen oxides. The result is a colorless gas called ozone that makes up more than 95% of smog.

Ozone can irritate the respiratory system and aggravate such chronic respiratory ailments as emphysema, asthma and bronchitis when it builds up in the lower atmosphere.

Carbon monoxide, another component of motor vehicle exhaust, reduces the amount of oxygen that red blood cells deliver to the brain. The colorless, odorless gas is usually not dangerous in places with adequate ventilation, but in garages and in heavy traffic, it can impair reflexes and cause drowsiness.

Diesel exhaust is also rich in particulates, which appear as black smoke spewing from exhaust pipes and which can impair lung function.

Jacqueline Switzer, a spokeswoman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, said motor vehicles account for 88% of the carbon monoxide and 56% of the ozone in the lower atmosphere. Because of these pollutants, she said, the South Coast Air Basin has “the worst air in the country.”

The AQMD, created by the Legislature in 1977 to consolidate various anti-pollution agencies, has its own team of five inspectors who issue notices to the owners of smoggy buses. Switzer said the agency is also fighting smog by regulating industries and encouraging ride-sharing.

Gibson said most people are “pretty positive” when he tells them they need to fix or tune up their engines to reduce exhaust smoke.

“I didn’t know what he was pulling me over for,” said Owen Gifford after Gibson issued him a citation on the Santa Ana Freeway. “I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong driving”.

Gifford said he thinks the smog patrol is a good idea “as long as they catch everybody else.”