Countywide : Highway to Get 43 Emergency Phones

Beginning today, 43 new telephone call boxes will be available to motorists whose cars break down on California 126.

The state-of-the-art, solar-powered cellular emergency phones on the highway between Santa Paula and the Los Angeles County line are the first phase of the County Transportation Commission’s call-box expansion program.

There were only two or three call boxes along that stretch of highway when 384 of them were first installed along Ventura County’s the freeways in 1990, said Chris Stephens, who heads the county’s Service Authority for Freeway Emergencies.

In the last two years, those call boxes have provided roadside service to nearly 40,000 stranded motorists, an average of 2,000 calls per month, Stephens said.

When the expansion program is completed, the county system will include about 460 call boxes. Additional call boxes are planned for California 118 between Saticoy and Moorpark, Stephens said.

The call boxes, which automatically dial the California Highway Patrol when the phone is picked up, are made of recycled plastic and are protected by an alarm system to prevent theft and vandalism.

A $1-per-year assessment on motor vehicle registrations pays for the service.