State Vehicle Code Has the Answer for Annoying Car Alarms

Dear Street Smart:

What are the laws, if any, regarding car alarms which go off at night regularly and alarms with on/off chirps that are as loud as the alarm itself?

Richard Beigel, Buena Park

Of all the noises in the urban jungle, one of the most annoying has to be the car alarm that goes whoop in the night. “It’s like a dog barking. Everyone hears it except the guy who owns the dog,” said Dominic Savino, communications supervisor for the Buena Park Police Department.

Apparently, sufficient alarm was raised over the noise these devices emit, because in 1984 a section written into the California Vehicle Code expressly addressed the issue.

Specifically, Vehicle Code 22651.5 allows police to have the car towed after 45 minutes of not being able to squelch the alarm. It’s up to the car’s owner to figure out what happened, then pay the towing cost and impound fees to get the car back.

In Buena Park, police will run a computer check based on the license plate of a wailing car to determine the owner’s name and address, Savino said. If that doesn’t work, and checking with neighbors reveals nothing, it’s off to the impound lot.

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Dear Street Smart:

There are two situations, both in Costa Mesa, I’d like to address.

The first is the terrible condition of Newport Boulevard as you make the inside left turn from 19th Street to get onto the Costa Mesa Freeway. I keep waiting for the road to be repaired, but nothing is happening.

The other situation is 17th Street east to Superior Avenue and Newport Boulevard. Seventeenth Street is a single lane up to Superior and the signal at the intersection of 17th and Superior is so short that traffic backs up.

In addition, traffic from Superior turning right onto 17th Street blocks that area of the intersection and compounds the problem of trying to get through there. If the signal at Newport and 17th Street, especially the left-turn signal, were longer, it would help the flow of traffic.

Dolores M. Minerich, Costa Mesa

Both locations are under the jurisdiction of the California Department of Transportation and the city of Costa Mesa. While these streets belong to Costa Mesa, Caltrans must be included in any plans that influence the traffic flow.

Dennis Johnson, assistant engineer for Costa Mesa’s traffic engineering department, said the city is currently working with Caltrans to get Newport Boulevard near 19th Street resurfaced. The project is in the contract phase and construction should begin this year, although an exact date has not been slated.

Caltrans and Costa Mesa planners are also aware of the situation at 17th Street, Superior Avenue and Newport Boulevard, Johnson said.

A plan has been developed to improve the heavy eastbound traffic on 17th Street, Johnson said. Costa Mesa is working with Caltrans to speed the flow of left turns onto Newport Boulevard by adding a third left-turn lane, he said.

“The highest volume is eastbound 17th Street to northbound Newport Boulevard,” Johnson said. “Re-striping through that area will go to the Superior Avenue intersection as well.”

Though no official construction date has been set, improvements should begin sometime this year, Johnson said.

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Dear Street Smart:

To me, the smartest Caltrans innovation in my 32 years of Southern California driving is the on-ramp meter. So when there isn’t one, I wonder why.

My commute to work at 10 a.m. involves entering the San Diego Freeway northbound at Laguna Canyon Road. And every morning, those of us who enter the San Diego Freeway northbound at the Laguna Freeway (133) manage to stop the flow of traffic on the San Diego Freeway.

Why is there no meter there? The ramp is nearly a mile long, long enough to accommodate all the traffic which could possibly appear. The meters at Jeffrey Road, Culver Drive and Jamboree Road on the route north do a terrific job of controlling the influx of cars at those ramps. Why not at Laguna Canyon Road?

Donald L. Peterson, Aliso Viejo

The traffic characteristics of city street on-ramps and freeway connectors are different. One main difference is that city street on-ramps are generally operated at lower speeds and volumes than freeway connections, said Ed Khosravi, chief of traffic system development for Caltrans.

Unless special metering hardware were installed, such as high visibility “Prepare to Stop” signs and flashing beacons, the potential for accidents would be too great to allow a metered ramp in that area, Khosravi said.