Car-Pool Scofflaws Get Some Company: a CHP Officer

Car-poolers on the Santa Monica Freeway cheer when they see California Highway Patrol Officer Michelle Reddick writing a ticket for a solo motorist caught zipping along in one of the freeway’s new diamond lanes.

They honk, whoop, and shout--”Yeah, go get ‘em, tiger!”--at the sight of the 5-foot-1 Reddick vigorously waving over a perpetrator. They know from the posted signs that any motorist caught illegally slipping into their ranks pays a steep price: $271.

This righteous freeway indignation is found only on the Santa Monica, where authorities introduced diamond lanes after the Northridge earthquake, allowing car-poolers to easily bypass quake-damaged stretches. Other than a brief failed experiment two decades ago, it is the first use of diamond lanes in the freeway’s history.

For Reddick, the congratulatory hoopla is embarrassing. She tries not to smile; she doesn’t want an irate scofflaw to think she is enjoying herself at his or her expense. After all, this is not a tough ticket. Snaring car-pool-lane violators is like shooting fish in a barrel.

“With speeding, it’s your word against theirs,” the 25-year-old officer says. “Car-pool-lane violations are written in black and white. You either have people in your car or you don’t,”

About 6% of the drivers using the Santa Monica car-pool lanes are scofflaws--about average for freeway car-pool lanes, Caltrans estimates. Despite the hefty fine, imposed about 35 times a day, the chance to save as much as 20 minutes otherwise lost to a surface street detour is too good to miss for some.

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Vehicles in car-pool lanes are required by law to carry at least two living people. (An officer once gave a ticket to a mortician who counted the corpse in his hearse as a passenger.) But motorists determined to flout the law have been known to place a mannequin in the passenger seat. Or they would tie a hat on their dog, or on a helium balloon.

No longer. “We’re wise to that stuff,” Reddick sighs.

So on the post-earthquake Santa Monica, the diamond lane excuses have reached a new plateau of desperation.

One solo motorist explained that he had to go to the bathroom. Another said he was late for work. Another said her kids were sick and waiting to be picked up. One woman said she had just gotten her driver’s license last week.

Still another innocently said: “But officer, I’m a resident .”

Laura Fercano, 19, was driving in a blue convertible, her long black hair streaming in the wind, when Reddick recently pulled her over.

Fercano, a nurse, explained to a reporter that she was sick and had left work early to go home.

“I think they should ask you why you are driving on the car-pool lane,” she said. “I have terrible allergies.”

Alex Poise, 25, said he had just returned from Hawaii (well, actually two months ago).

“There are no freeways there so I kind of forgot about stuff like this,” he said.

Seeing that this line of reasoning packed no punch, Poise, who installs fire protection systems, offered another.

“I took the car-pool lane today because I saw a lot of people by themselves, so I figured I could go by myself too,” he said.

Finally, he tried this: “I work hard all day. I don’t make that much. I’ll lose the money I make in one week in three seconds.”

Unmoved, Reddick handed Poise his ticket. He angrily crumpled it up and tossed it on the floor of his car.

Eric Peterson, 22, tried a different tack. He said he was late to see his estranged alcoholic father, whom he had not visited for more than a year.

“This is the only time I’ll be able to talk to my father,” said Peterson, a file clerk. “My father gave me directions. He told me to stay on the Santa Monica. I couldn’t read the signs. I didn’t know the detour meant everybody. “

“That’s his personal life,” said Reddick as she cited Peterson not only for improperly using the car-pool lane but for a bevy of minor violations, such as having illegal window tints and no side-view mirror.

Only once during that rush hour did a driver apologize for making an error.

Amanullah Aban, a bewildered 48-year-old businessman, explained to Reddick in broken English that he was trying to reach Los Angeles International Airport so he could catch his flight home to Pakistan.

“Here’s what you’ve gotta do,” Reddick told the him: “Take a right on Fairfax, a left on Venice, a right on Cadillac, and then a left.”

Aban looked at her blankly. She waved him on without issuing a ticket.

“We’re not heartless,” she said.

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When Caltrans opened the diamond lanes on the Santa Monica, motorists initially were slow to use them. But gradually the lane is gaining popularity: More than 1,300 took them during one recent peak morning hour, and about 1,100 used them during one evening rush hour.

The lane is a subculture in which car-poolers and lane violators eye each other with Hatfield and McCoy disdain. If you shamelessly enter the car-pool lane, expect the wrath of the scores of people who weave elaborate plans to pick one another up and save precious minutes by commuting in the car-pool lane.

“There are some people who think the law is not written for them,” said car-pooler Sue Himmelrich. “There are always people who think their agenda is more important than everybody else’s. Or people who believe order doesn’t apply to them; these are the people who cut supermarket lines or use the ‘Only 10 Items’ line with 20 things. You get some satisfaction when they get nailed.”

Attorney Joe Lee said: “We are going out of our way to play by the rules and we derive a secret, if not sadistic, delight in seeing these violators pulled over.

“A car-pool lane is society’s way of encouraging constructive behavior. If you want to take the shortcut, you must make the sacrifice. This is a special benefit created for those who go through the extra effort. Others who cheat are taking it away from us; it’s a form of theft of a social benefit.”