Rocky Road Leaves Sour Taste in the Mouths of Some Drivers

Dear Street Smart:

I don’t travel the Riverside Freeway very often; however, recently my windshield has been hit twice, apparently by gravel, on the 91 between the Costa Mesa Freeway and Interstate 15 in Corona. I know of at least five other people who also experienced windshield damage in that area.

I believe that Caltrans is responsible for this damage, i.e., they do not adequately keep the freeway clean of debris and enforce requirements to prevent gravel and other construction truck loss of material (covers and mud flaps), or truck speed.

How do I make a claim to Caltrans or another responsible organization for the windshield damage?

R. R. Brummond

Placentia

Caltrans spokeswoman Pam Gorniak said a private car-pool lane is under construction in the median of the Riverside Freeway in the area where your windshield was pelted.

Gorniak said if you believe the gravel that caused the damage blew or fell off a road construction truck, you should contact Caltrans claims department or California Private Transportation Co., the joint venture partnership that is building the toll express lane.

“They should definitely get the name of the company on the truck and the license plate number,” CPT spokeswoman Julie Cha said.

Call (800) 600-9191 for the California Private Transportation Co. or (714) 724-2000 for the Caltrans claims department.

Depending on which agency or company might be responsible, the caller will be referred to the proper place to file a claim, Gorniak and Chay said.

Granite Construction Co., the main contractor on the Riverside Freeway toll express lane, has received about 50 claims for windshield damage since the project began in the summer of 1993, company spokeswoman Julie Minger said.

Minger said if you call Granite Construction at (714) 283-9173, you will be sent a claim form to fill out that then will be sent to the insurance carrier for Granite Construction or for one of its subcontractors.

The more detail you provide, including the time and place where the damage occurred, she said, the more likely it is that the claim will get reimbursed.

However, it is also possible that the gravel hitting your car came from one of the numerous other gravel trucks that are driven over the Riverside Freeway each day.

Minger observed that other granite contractors are driving trucks to jobs farther west on the Riverside Freeway and south on the Costa Mesa Freeway.

Rose Orem, spokeswoman for Caltrans, said that while Caltrans is responsible for sweeping the freeways and supervising construction operations, the California Highway Patrol is the agency that enforces the laws governing safe hauling.

“A truck is not allowed to spill anything except water and feathers from live animals,” CHP Officer George Guidivotti said. The vehicle code says truck drivers can be cited for spilling anything else, and material such as rock and gravel should be carried only in a closed cargo area.

Guidivotti suggested that you file a windshield damage report with the CHP for insurance purposes. He said although you can try to get the trucker’s insurance company to pay, it is more likely that you or your car insurance will foot the bill.

“It is real tough to prove where a rock came from that hit your car,” Guidivotti warned. Also it is unlikely that the CHP will take any action against the trucker, he said, since the law requires a CHP officer to witness the spill that caused the damage before the trucker can be cited.

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Dear Street Smart:

I moved to California two years ago after being a resident of Pittsburgh all my life. Street Smart recently answered a question regarding a car needing two license plates. That prompted me to ask the following:

How is it possible that California allows so very many cars on the streets with no plates? I assume these are all new cars. In Pittsburgh any new car or newly bought used car had to have a temporary plate. Any car with no plate (rare) in Pittsburgh would probably be driven by a criminal!

Bea Gross

Leisure World, Laguna Hills

In California, all vehicles are required to be licensed and registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles. But if you see a new car that doesn’t have plates, that is understandable, DMV spokesman William Madison said.

Usually the car dealer handles the registration application, he said, and the new car buyer must wait three to four weeks for the state to send the license plates. Meanwhile, new cars sport big red temporary stickers on the window with a number for the month that they expire.

Other cars without plates may belong to newcomers to California who have 20 days to attach license plates to their cars after obtaining employment or becoming a resident, Madison said. But Madison said he believes most of the cars you see without license plates are driven by scofflaws who are unwilling or financially unable to pay the combined registration and license fees in California, not to mention the stiff penalties for late payment.

California’s registration and license fees, averaging $143 last year, are higher than in most states. “I’d say economics is the primary reason,” for registration and licensing violations, Madison said.

An estimated 7% of California’s 26 million vehicles--or 1.8 million--are being driven without license plates or with expired plates, Madison said.

He said that although the California Highway Patrol last year made a special effort to crack down on registration and license violations, the problem persists.

“At any given time there are 700 to 800 CHP officers on duty patrolling just under 100,000 miles of California roadway. I think it is evident that we can’t be everywhere,” CHP spokesman Steve Kohler said.

“We are going to have to focus on those infractions that present the greatest hazard to the motoring public,” Kohler added. “If we see someone with no license plates at the same time we see someone going 80 m.p.h. or driving under the influence, obviously the speeder or DUI driver will take precedence.”

It is also possible that the licensing problem seems magnified to people like you who come to California from parts of the country where cars are fewer, Kohler said.

“I’m sure there is a culture shock for anyone coming to Southern California from another state who sees as many vehicles as we have,” Kohler said. “The more you see, the more opportunity there is for you to see violations.”

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FYI: You can find out how to avoid freeway traffic snarls on your route to work each morning by tapping into the California Department of Transportation’s address on the Internet using your home computer. The location is: https://www.dot.ca.gov/

Other information that Caltrans is feeding into the Internet can assist prospective bidders on Caltrans highway construction projects, including lists of bid opening dates. And local transportation agencies can obtain the latest Caltrans policies, manuals and reports affecting traffic projects that use state or federal funds.

“All the Caltrans projects that are planned to be built in the state within the next seven years are also on the Net for anyone interested,” said Frank Weidler, the Orange County district division chief for Caltrans. “If you get on the Internet and browse, you will find a wealth of information.”

Street Smart appears Mondays in The Times Orange County Edition.