Drivers Have to Lump the Bumps on Ventura Freeway

It’s where the rubber doesn’t meet the road that Jere Gerszewski has problems.

Bad enough that his morning and evening commute forces the Thousand Oaks man to fight the traffic on the San Fernando Valley freeways.

But it’s those darn over-crossings, where the highway bridges a surface street.

The ones that seem like they’re a foot higher than the highway.

The ones that feel a lot like hitting a curb straight on.

The ones that put visions of front-end realignment dancing through Gerszewski’s head.

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Dear Street Smart:

There are several areas on the westbound Ventura Freeway in the San Fernando Valley where the asphalt meets a much higher concrete surface at over-crossings. Driving over these sections generates a good thump and makes me wince at the thought of front-end alignment problems.

The problem is on the left side of the fast lane at these westbound over-crossings.

* Preceding the Tampa Avenue exit.

* At the Winnetka Avenue exit.

* Near the Wilbur Avenue over-crossing.

* Preceding the Canoga Avenue exit.

* Preceding the Woodlake Avenue exit.

Caltrans has recently resurfaced many of these road sections that are on the eastern half of the Ventura Freeway between the Tampa Avenue exit and the Hollywood Freeway. However, the worst of these bumps on the west end of the Valley have not received any attention.

May I get your help with Caltrans to patch up these areas? My commute home to Ventura County from Los Angeles would be improved at least a little bit if this could be fixed!

Jere Gerszewski, Oak Park

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Dear Reader:

Street Smart doesn’t like ‘em either. But barring a huge windfall in the state budget, plan on hitting those bumps for a while.

Caltrans spokeswoman Pat Reid said that Caltrans has finished a $1-million job replacing the worn concrete around bridges over a 10-mile stretch of the Ventura Freeway from Studio City to Tarzana.

That you already know.

Turns out, Caltrans ran short on cash and hasn’t been able to fix the rest of the roadway.

So the bumps and the front-end alignments are yours to keep for a while.

“Caltrans apologizes for the inconvenience and discomfort this problem may have caused motorists,” Reid said.

The agency hopes to award a contract early next year, she said, but there are no guesses as to when the work might be completed.

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Dear Street Smart:

I wrote to Street Smart several years ago.

At that time I felt that the Department of Motor Vehicles was not collecting the registration fees for many cars in our fair state.

I estimated the state was losing about $50 million a year by not collecting fees.

The answer came back that the DMV said the figure was closer to $75 million.

A few weeks later there was an article in The Times that said the loss was closer to $150 million.

Why is this happening? Why is the DMV so lax? No registration fee collection means that these cars have no insurance and the drivers could possibly have no licenses.

Another problem: Why are the big trucks using the No. 1 and No. 2 lanes on the freeways? Why aren’t they being stopped?

Thanks for listening. I hope I get an answer.

Gil Cooperman, Camarillo

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Dear Reader:

Better yet. You’ll get two answers.

As for the first one, the DMV now estimates that there are about 1,147,000 delinquent vehicle registration renewal accounts each year that would bring the state roughly $259.7 million.

Yep, even though it looks like a drop in the bucket compared to $3.4 billion the DMV takes in every year, that’s a lot of cash.

DMV officials admit it is a major problem, but they assure you that they’ve gotten much better at collecting delinquent registration fee accounts.

State lawmakers in 1993 passed legislation that turned over the DMV’s collection responsibilities to the Franchise Tax Board, which has the power to go after the likes of bank accounts, paychecks, real estate and income tax refunds.

The law has helped the DMV collect about $200 million in back fees since the law went into effect. About $100 million of that was collected just in the last year, a sign DMV officials say shows that the collection effort is getting faster and better.

Like everything else, the reasons why people don’t register their vehicles are many, but it’s a safe bet that many don’t because they can’t.

DMV officials say many people with limited cash believe they have little choice but to risk their driver’s licenses by driving uninsured, unregistered vehicles around just to keep their jobs.

That’s not a justification, reader, just a reason.

As for those trucks: You are right about all those big rigs posing a major problem by ignoring state law and driving in the inside highway lanes.

You’d have to ask the truckers why they choose to ignore the law, but Street Smart figures it has something to do with getting from point A to B a whole lot faster.

Local CHP Officer Dave Webb said he has been on their tails for the past three years. Ventura County sees a larger volume of trucks than many counties due in large part to California 126, which offers a great shortcut between the Ventura Freeway and Interstate 5.

Webb spends about 80% of his time targeting commercial traffic in his unmarked, white patrol car. He looks to pull over at least 10 truckers suspected of speeding, lane and log violations every day. His goal is to cite at least two of them.

No easy task, considering every time he pulls one of them over, the other truckers get on their CBs and start yapping about the “polar bear” (that’s what they call Webb’s white car). Suddenly, all of them are driving at the proper speed and in the proper lane.

Four CHP pickup trucks stationed in the county also help in the effort.

“We try our best and we’re doing a lot, I think,” Webb said. “It is a major problem.”

The law requires that trucks drive in the outside, or slow lane. They are allowed to move into the second lane only to pass, and they must do so within a quarter-mile without exceeding 55 mph, the maximum speed at which commercial truckers can travel.

If you see a trucker breaking the law and you have a cellular telephone, you can always call the local CHP headquarters at 654-4571. Describe the truck as best you can. Don’t worry so much about the license plate number, Webb said. Just try to get either the company name or the identification number off the side of the truck.

And don’t spend too much time traveling directly alongside or behind a truck. A tire blowout, jackknife or accident up ahead can spell disaster for you. Just call in what you can and the CHP will take care of the rest.