Torrance Traffic Tickets Show the Holiday Spirit

Red and blue lights flash. A squad car appears in the rear-view mirror. As a police officer approaches with his book of citations, possible defenses spin through your head: “I didn’t see the sign” or “My speedometer sticks” or “Maybe you know my uncle Nick; he’s a deputy sheriff.”

Save the ingratiating overtures, the excuses and the undignified pleadings. They usually don’t work. And this month in Torrance, you might get a break anyway.

Throughout the month, patrol and traffic officers will issue special “Holiday Season Traffic Citations” that offer holiday greetings and safe-driving cautions instead of fines.

“In essence, we are saying Merry Christmas to the people of Torrance,” said a department spokesman, Sgt. Ron Traber.

Officers will decide at each traffic stop whether to issue a standard citation or a holiday warning. Drivers who have committed minor traffic offenses and cooperated with police are eligible for the red-and-gray notices decorated with toy soldiers.

Several hundred of the notices--with season’s greetings from the department and Chief Donald E. Nash--have been issued since the program began Monday.

“We are encouraging people to drive safely,” Traber said, “not to think they have a chance to get away with something. We don’t want people out in the community to think December is a free ride.”

In the past, other cities issued special citations to courteous or safe drivers. The coupons were good for gifts. Well-mannered motorists received turkeys in Santa Monica, prime rib dinners in Covina and movie tickets in Monrovia.

But Torrance police say they are not certain it is legal to stop drivers who haven’t done anything wrong. So they decided to issue friendly warnings to drivers who break the law, said Lt. Dennis Frandsen, commander of the traffic division.

Frandsen said officers have taken to the new program with enthusiasm, especially one patrolman who issued more than 40 holiday notices during a single shift Tuesday.

“We are having positive contact with people, where they are not going away angry,” Frandsen says. “That is what we are looking for.”

Avoiding a $60 or $70 citation is a particular relief to drivers during the holidays, said motorcycle Officer James Martinez, a 20-year veteran.

“This time of year, they are short of funds anyway and trying to finish up their shopping,” Martinez said. “A citation is the last thing they need. . . . It really puts a damper on them.”

Two women were so happy at avoiding citations that they wept, Martinez said. “The spirit is to work together for a safe holiday,” he said. “Hopefully (the public) will learn something, and it will keep them from being pulled over in 1990.”

The holiday citation program is scheduled to end Dec. 31.