Making the ‘Lazy, Cunning and Disrespectful’ Pay Big

Dear Street Smart:

I thought you might be able to refer me to the group that protects handicapped parking spaces at markets, shopping malls, etc.

I know of a person who hangs an expired red handicapped parking sign on the mirror just to avoid parking a few slots away. Lazy, cunning and disrespectful. That’s the type that should be cited--and not just warned by the state Department of Motor Vehicles. Can you get me the contact to those folks who canvass parking areas?

Tom Croner

Laguna Hills

The laws against unauthorized parking in spaces reserved for handicapped drivers are enforced by local police agencies. Laguna Hills, where you live, is in the jurisdiction of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, although any law enforcement agency can issue a citation. The best way to report the violation you mention is to call the DMV directly.

“We would send out our investigators to see if [the driver] is the proper owner of the placard,” said William Madison, a spokesman for the DMV in Sacramento. “If not, or if it had expired, we would seize the placard and cite him.”

Being cited for using illegal handicapped parking placards is no joke. The maximum penalty, Madison said, is a whopping fine of $500 to $1,000 and up to six months in jail. The minimum fine for parking in the handicapped zone with no placard, he said, is $250.

You can report violators in Orange County by jotting down their placard numbers and calling one of two local DMV offices: in Irvine at (714) 476-9260 or in Costa Mesa at (714) 631-7637.

“As more and more complaints have been filed about this, we have become more and more aggressive,” Madison said.

New legislation that went into effect this year also has tightened up the procedures for issuing new placards.

Dear Street Smart:

I would like to propose closing Backbay Drive in Newport Beach between Shellmaker Island and Jamboree Road to automobiles during the day on weekends. This one-lane road, with a bike lane, is heavily used by cyclists, joggers and roller-bladers on the weekends, and it is quite annoying to have to deal with cars as well. The road is not necessary for any car, as it is simply a scenic alternative to Jamboree Road.

Additionally, very few autos respect the 15-mph limit on the road, creating an unsafe situation. I know that barriers already exist for closing the road after heavy rains, and I am sure that it would be no problem for the state Department of Fish and Game to set them up in the morning, and then remove them after sunset. What would be required to bring this problem to the city’s attention?

David Garcia

Irvine

It already has been brought to the city’s attention on several occasions, according to Rich Edmonston, traffic engineer for Newport Beach.

“That road and this issue have a long history going back more than 20 years,” Edmonston said. “It’s been looked at several times by different groups,” most recently about four years ago by a consultant hired for the purpose, he said.

Eventually, though, the effort to close the road failed, in part, Edmonston said, because “it is a public road built and maintained with motor vehicle gas tax funds.”

Among other things, he said, the road serves “a lot of our senior population who enjoy bird watching and can’t walk or bike in there. One of the concerns is that you’d be depriving a certain segment of the population of enjoyment if you closed that road.”

And too, there was the issue of who would do the actual closing. Neither the city nor Fish and Game, he said, has personnel in a position to easily set up and remove those barriers. As a result, Edmonston said, “they couldn’t reach a solution that everyone could agree to.”

He hasn’t shut the door on any future decisions, however.

“It’s an issue that will keep coming up over time,” Edmonston said. “At some point, all the pieces may line up and it will happen, but that hasn’t been the case until now.”

Dear Street Smart:

Are motorcycles allowed to use toll roads toll free? What if the motorcycle has a passenger? Specifically, I am interested in the 91 Express Lanes.

Jim Stapleton

Costa Mesa

Motorcyclists are indeed allowed to ride the 91 Express Lanes for free as long as they carry transponders--tiny devices automatically monitored by electronic toll “readers”--and stay in the carpool lane, according to Frank Wilson, a spokesman for the California Private Transportation Co., which operates the toll road. It doesn’t matter whether the motorcyclist carries a passenger, Wilson said. The same is not true for the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor, on which motorcycles are expected to pay the full toll.

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 Edition, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, send faxes to (714) 966-7711 or e-mail him at 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.