CITY SMART / How to thrive in the urban environment of Southern California : Using the Internet to Steer Clear of Trouble and Get Out of Jams : Transportation: Everything from the latest road conditions to list of speed traps can be found on the information superhighway.

Want to check out up-to-the-minute road conditions--just like the radio traffic reporters do? Pose a question to Caltrans? Find out about local speed traps?

Cruise the infobahn.

You can call up a traffic map--similar to the kind that can be found in Caltrans’ traffic control center--showing which freeways have SigAlerts (in red, of course) and which freeways are free-flowing (in green).

You can find the answers to such questions as: “Can a local cop cite you for speeding on a freeway?” (Yes.) And you can call up the entire California Vehicle Code just to make sure.

A wide range of assistance is available on-line--from manufacturers’ recalls of automobiles to train schedules for Los Angeles County’s evolving rail system. And there’s the user-authored list of speed traps.

“The speed trap registry is not meant to be a tool to undercut the efforts of law enforcement,” says a note on the Internet page, created by Vanderbilt University computer science student Andy Warner earlier this year after he was cited for speeding.

But one contributor to the registry issued a warning to motorists traveling on Interstate 10 in Southern California--including the San Bernardino Freeway “coming down off the Kellogg Hill in West Covina.”

“Be careful of white Mustangs. They have really small CHP signs on the doors and are really hard to notice as my friend found out while driving 140,” the page says.

A contributor also warns against speeding on the Foothill Freeway near La Canada Flintridge.

The California Highway Patrol “loves to hang out on the overpasses that can be up to 100 feet over the freeway and swoop down on unsuspecting drivers,” says another notation.

CHP Officer Rhett Price said that officers do not “hang out” on overpasses, but spot speeders when they are driving on the bridges. He called the speed-trap registry a good thing, however, “if it’s going to slow people down.”

Price said speed traps are illegal in California and disputed the notion that the CHP hides behind billboards lying in wait for speeders, though he acknowledged that some locations on the speed trap registry are known speedways.

“Seeing us out there is a better deterrent than having people worry about where we might be hiding,” Price said.

Besides the speed traps, you also can get information on-line from the U.S. Department of Transportation, Caltrans, Amtrak, Metrolink and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

You can e-mail Caltrans--and get a response.

“I’m wondering what happened when they were painting the lines to the freeway off-ramp at 405 North, Devonshire exit,” one man messaged Caltrans. “There are wavy lines that deviate about two to three feet in places. Looks like the driver of the painting [vehicle] was drunk.”

“The striping is of a temporary nature [plastic] that is being used because of a construction project,” Caltrans spokesman Russ Snyder responded by computer. “Unfortunately, this temporary striping does not do well in heavy rain, and you have noticed the results.”

The questions--and gripes--are directed at Caltrans via the Los Angeles Free Net. Other information available on-line includes road improvement projects and planned lane closures.

Caltrans also provides the latest traffic conditions--changing every 30 seconds--on the Internet. But if you want to access the map--with colored dots to indicate speeds--you’ll need a graphic web browser.

Caltrans’ home page also features important events in Caltrans’ history: The Bureau of Highways was created in 1895 because the job of planning transportation had become too large for one man.

A list of frequently asked questions about driving in California compiled by Silicon Valley computer consultant George Wu includes a list of fink lines, such as (800) CUT-SMOG to report polluting cars.

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Transit Information on the Internet

* Southern California freeway traffic report: https://www.scubed.com/

* Speed traps: https://www.nashville.net/speedtrap/

* MTA, Metrolink and Amtrak pages: https://ucs.usc.edu/ertrinid/larail.html

* Caltrans home page: https://www.dot.ca.gov/

* Driving questions: https://www.lib.ox.ac.uk/internet/news/faq/ca.driving.html

* Auto recalls: https://www.dot.gov/