Solo Drivers in Car-Pool Lanes Won’t Be Caught on Tape

Dear Street Smart:

I am a regular daily commuter of the San Diego Freeway car-pool lane. There is no excuse for motorists to miss the big sign posted before entering the car-pool lane that says “Car-Pool Violation $271 Fine.”

Most of the time I have seen single motorists cut into the car-pool lane during the peak morning and evening traffic hours without being fined!

Not only has the traffic law been abused by those single motorists, but they could be the potential cause of accidents by suddenly cutting off into the car-pool lane.

Don’t you think if the county and cities get together with Caltrans and the CHP and decide to install some kind of hidden-camera device on the car-pool lane this would ease up the financial crisis of Orange County?

Ten single motorist car-pool violations a day would bring $2,710 in traffic revenue. Estimated monthly revenue in the average of 10 tickets per day would make a helpful figure of $84,010 for our “once richest” county to get back into the black!

The above suggestion comes into my mind as I drive along the San Diego car-pool lane listening to the news of the new tax increase proposal for our county to deal with the bankruptcy matter.

Jennifer Lee

Irvine

The California Highway Patrol has no plans to catch car-pool lane violators with cameras along the freeways, said CHP spokesman Steve Kohler. Under California law, Kohler said, drivers cannot be cited for moving traffic violations unless a law enforcement official sees them.

Another problem is proving who was driving. Although a camera might take a picture of the license plate, and a ticket might be mailed to the registered owner, identifying the driver might be difficult.

Police departments in California that have tried to use staffed cameras to catch speeders report that when the registered owners ignore the citations they receive in the mail, judges refuse to issue bench warrants because of the driver identity problem.

Other states, including Arizona and Massachusetts, have decriminalized traffic violations caught on camera. In those states, the registered owners of cars caught speeding can be cited automatically, just as they are cited for parking infractions.

Even if California law was changed to allow ticketing of violators caught on camera, none of the fines would be available to help solve the county’s bankruptcy woes, said Ruth Wagoner, senior staff analyst for Municipal Court in Santa Ana.

Wagoner said from $108 to $124 of each fine for a car-pool violation is used to offset court expenses and the rest goes to the state and the Orange County Transportation Commission. Dear Street Smart:

Do you have any information regarding repair work for Newport Boulevard in the city of Orange between Chapman Avenue and Canyon View Avenue? The left southbound lane of this area appears to be sinking. It is especially bad when approaching the left- turn lane at Canyon View. We just assumed this problem area would be taken care of. However, so far we have not observed anyone even checking on it.

Shirley Barganski

Orange

Bernie Dennis, traffic engineer for Orange, said the sinking is caused by erosion of earth covering a storm drain. The city is getting ready to correct this defect along with a lot of minor street problems citywide, he said. Work to correct the slump is scheduled to begin within 45 days.

Dear Street Smart:

Since I moved to Trabuco Canyon in 1990, I have seen Santa Margarita Parkway in Rancho Santa Margarita blossom with more and more traffic signals.

Although each of them almost sprouted overnight, they were fairly well in sync, and my daily travel to and from Interstate 5 was routine and somewhat swift.

Since the latest stretch of the Foothill tollway corridor was opened, however, it appears as if every signal on Santa Margarita Parkway is red, and their synchronization is gone.

Like me, tens of thousands now travel this route daily, and this makes our passage slow, tedious and nerve-wrenching. If I didn’t know any better, I would think that “The Corridors” or “FasTrak” [automated toll collection] has something to do with the timing of these traffic signals.

What is the criteria upon which the traffic signals are timed on this particular route, and why this sudden surge of red signals?

Liliana M. Perniciaro

Trabuco Canyon

You are right. The opening of the newest segment of the Foothill tollway corridor April 7 threw all of the signals out of kilter on Santa Margarita Parkway where it parallels the tollway corridor, said Orange County Engineer Ignacio Ochoa.

You might have expected that completion of the tollway extension from Antonio Parkway to Portola South would reduce your travel time on Santa Margarita Parkway, which would benefit from a shift of traffic to the tollway.

But that won’t happen, Ochoa said, until the 14 computer-controlled signals on the affected five-mile stretch of parkway are adjusted to accommodate the change in traffic flow.

Until the lights are “fine tuned,” he said, drivers on the parkway will find that the lower traffic volume allows them to accelerate only run into red lights.

“Probably the overall average speed is higher, but you lose time at the lights,” said Ochoa, so there has been little or no time savings.

This frustrating state of affairs, Ochoa said, is not part of a marketing strategy to encourage commuters from Rancho Santa Margarita to choose the tollway over the free parkway.

“Are we doing it to get people to use the corridor? The answer is no,” he said.

A traffic count is now underway. When it is done, the signals will be adjusted to optimize commuter time, Ochoa promised. You should see the improvement in about two weeks.

Street Smart appears Mondays in The Times Orange County Edition. Readers are invited to submit comments and questions about traffic, commuting and what makes it difficult to get around in Orange County. Include simple sketches if helpful. Letters may be published in upcoming columns. Please write to Leslie Berkman, c/o Street Smart, The Times Orange County, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Include your full name, address and day and evening phone numbers. Letters may be edited, and no anonymous letters will be accepted.