Toll Road Scofflaws Pay in the End

Dear Street Smart: I don’t know if officials of the Foothill Transportation Corridor know it, but it is possible to use the corridor without paying a toll. More than once I have observed a car closely follow another that has paid. No flashing red light went on to indicate that the second car had not paid the toll. It has happened several times to me and makes me angry that I just paid someone else’s toll. Are they aware of this method to beat the system, and are they doing anything about it?

Mark Capps

Mission Viejo

Motorists closely following paying customers are not actually beating the system. While they may be fooling the toll-collecting machine, toll road officials say, they aren’t escaping the cameras and light beams.

First, you’re right about the toll machines; they aren’t quick enough to accept coins and then reset themselves in time to catch a second car following closely.

Just before or after each toll machine, however, is equipment that’s far more sensitive.

Embedded in the pavement, an eight-inch plate running the width of the lane counts a vehicle’s axles by registering each time a wheel runs over it.

This works in conjunction with several light beams spaced at one-inch intervals across the lane that form a wall that is broken when cars pass.

Together, the two devices count the number of vehicles and compare it with the tolls being collected. When there’s a discrepancy, a camera photographs the shirker’s license plate, and the information is sent to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Commuters who don’t pay are sent letters within five days asking for the money. If they fail to pay within 20 days, they are sent another notice tacking on a $15 processing fee. And if they fail to pay that, a $76 fine is added that must be paid before the car’s registration can be renewed.

Dear Street Smart:

What are those orange Caltrans trailers parked along the northbound Santa Ana Freeway at the Culver and Jamboree onramps?

They have big antennas and air conditioning.

Fred Lang

Irvine

Those trailers are mobile communications units being tested as part of a closed-circuit traffic surveillance system. Each is equipped with several video cameras and transmitters designed to be used in place of the usual loop detectors embedded under the pavement of area freeways.

Loop detectors sense the number of cars on the freeway and transmit that information to the Traffic Management Center in Santa Ana, providing people there with a map of freeway congestion. The mobile units will be used where the loop detectors have not been installed or are not working, such as in construction areas. They will also provide pictures of freeway conditions to help traffic experts analyze and solve traffic-flow problems.

The testing should be completed in three to four weeks, according to Shahram Shahriari, a Caltrans senior electrical engineer.

They aren’t air conditioned, though. What you took to be an air conditioning unit, Shahriari said, is a generator.

Dear Street Smart:

I keep my proof of insurance with the vehicle registration in my car and do not carry it or a copy with me. Is that a mistake?

I would appreciate a clarification concerning this question. It is a subject that I believe has not been made clear in all the publicity surrounding the fairly new law about proof of insurance.

Allen R. Leroy

Newport Beach

Steve Kohler, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol, said you are required to carry proof of insurance even when driving a car you don’t own. To avoid problems in situations where you may unexpectedly find yourself driving someone else’s car, he says, it’s not a bad idea to carry proof of insurance in your wallet.

To do so is easier than it may seem, Kohler said. Proof of insurance can consist merely of the name of your insurance company and your policy number. So just jot the information down or “slide that card from the insurance company right behind your driver’s license,” he suggests.

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.