Bumper Crop of Speeding Tickets : Law enforcement: The CHP, concerned about excessive speeds on Interstate 5 in South County, issues 300 to 400 citations in 8 1/2 hours.

A task force of California Highway Patrol officers--some volunteering for special shifts--issued speeding tickets by the hundreds Wednesday to early morning commuters in South County.

“It was unbelievable,” said Leanne Meissner, one of those ticketed on Interstate 5 between Oso Parkway and Cristianitos Road. “It was like crows on dead meat. It was just like a slaughter. People were stacked up along the side of the road; I find it highly ironic that it was happening the day after Orange County declares bankruptcy.”

Officially, the CHP targeted both sides of the freeway from Junipero Serra Road to the San Diego County line, from 6:30 a.m. until 3 p.m., according to Officer Bruce Lian, who helped issue between 300 and 400 citations for speeding and seat belt violations. In all, 15 patrol cars were used.

“We’ve been looking at the accident and speed problem for the past year,” Lian said. “Things have always had a tendency to be fast and wide open down here.”

Accidents connected to speeding have been exacerbated by highway construction, Lian said, which in some areas has eliminated center dividers and shoulders. Of particular concern is the southbound grade in San Clemente, where the average speed exceeds 70 m.p.h.

“Because of the physics involved,” Lian said, “your ability to recover in a bad situation--a blowout or an unexpected lane change--is greatly diminished.”

CHP volunteers worked adjusted shifts to participate in the ticketing, said Lian, because there was no money in the budget for overtime. Earlier this year, the CHP mounted a similar effort in South County but paid for the overtime with a federal grant that targets dangerous freeway areas. More than 400 tickets were issued in fours hours in that effort.

“It was just amazing,” recalled CHP Officer Angel Johnson. “But the next day people were driving a lot slower. . . . We need to do that to get people to learn to slow down. We call it an education.”

Lian said that in the past, “99% of our responses from the public has been positive” to CHP anti-speeding operations.

Leanne Meissner, who commutes daily from San Diego County to Newport Beach, counted herself among the other 1%.

While sympathetic to the goal of highway safety, she said the CHP “could also have done some sort of publicity campaign, put forth some sort of effort to warn people.”

Regular commuters, she said, “are familiar with the regular flow of traffic, it’s a pace they’re used to.”