No More Parking in Bike Lanes at Spectrum Theaters

Dear Street Smart:

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but my recollection of the Vehicle Code tells me that it is illegal to park in a Class 2 bike lane. If this is in fact true, please explain where the city of Irvine gets away with allowing cars to park in the striped and signed bikeway on Fortune Drive in front of the “Big One” theater complex in Irvine Spectrum. I’ve been there numerous times and there have always been cars illegally parked there. The proper users of these bike lanes--cyclists--should not be punished because parking was inadequately planned or motorists choose to be lazy.

Curt Sutliff

Laguna Niguel

Beginning today, drivers parked in that bike lane will be ticketed.

The law does prohibit parking in the bike lane at Irvine Spectrum or anywhere else. But the Police Department had issued a temporary parking variance for that particular site, a step the department may take for reasons it considers in the public interest.

“When they put the entertainment center in around Thanksgiving of last year, its success and the demand for parking was overwhelming,” traffic Sgt. Tim Smith said. So to create more parking spaces, the Police Department issued a variance for Fortune Drive between Gateway Boulevard and Pacifica.

At any given time, he said, as many as 60 drivers were taking advantage of the liberalized parking regulations.

But all that has changed effective today, Smith said. Two weeks ago, the center added about 1,000 parking spaces behind the new Imax Theater to help ease the crunch. And for the last week, police have been issuing warnings that cars parked in the bike lane beginning in April will receive tickets.

Dear Street Smart:

I ride a big tour bike and my question concerns motorcycles and carpool lanes. In some places I see carpool lane signs with “motorcycles OK” appended, and in other locations I do not. This makes me think that it is only OK to ride in the carpool lane with your motorcycle when the lane is so marked. On the other hand, when suitably frustrated I ride in the carpool lane regardless of the sign and also see other bikes doing so without ever being stopped. What really is the legal situation in this area?

Michael King

Placentia

You may always ride your motorcycle in the carpool lane, regardless of whether it has a sign.

“The philosophy behind all these lanes is to encourage people to carpool and use fuel-efficient vehicles,” said Charles Chellew, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol. Because motorcycles are fuel efficient, he said, federal standards require that they be allowed in carpool lanes.

In California, however, motorcycles weren’t always allowed in those lanes, and that’s why the “motorcycles OK” signs are inconsistently placed. While the lanes were first being tested, according to Fred Schubbert, a Westminster CHP sergeant, California didn’t adhere to the federal standards. During that period, the state allowed motorcycles only in carpool lanes designated by signs. Several years and court cases later, he said, the practice has changed, but not the signage.

Dear Street Smart:

I have heard from someone, who assures me that it’s true, that teenagers born after 1981 will not be allowed to get their license until they are 18 years old. What is the law?

J. Jessen

San Clemente

For some time, the law has not granted permanent licenses to anyone under 18. At age 16, a driver can get a “provisional” license if she has a parent’s approval, takes a certified driving course including both classroom and behind-the-wheel training and passes the usual driving tests.

A provisional license can be legally restricted after fewer violations or revoked entirely by a parent.

When a driver turns 18, her provisional license automatically becomes permanent.

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 David Haldane, c/o Street Smart, The Times Orange County, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, send faxes to 966-7711 or e-mail him David.Haldane@latimes.com. Include your full name, address and day and evening phone numbers. Letters may be edited, and no anonymous letters will be accepted.