Bust a Big Rig, Take a Bite Out of Grime

Reader Angela Rubio loves those rare clear California days. The crisp afternoons after a good rain she looks north from local freeways to see the distant, snowcapped peaks of the San Bernardino Mountains lording over an urban vista of gleaming buildings and palm trees.

But why is it that right about then it always seems a big rig cuts her off and spews a big cloud of exhaust that blots out the sky and sours her mood.

“I spend every morning, every evening on the road, in traffic, and I just can’t stand watching these trucks pollute a clear day, or help to murk up a smoggy one, not to mention the fact that I have to breathe the stuff,” Rubio told us. “Am I the only person this bothers?”

Rubio wrote us primarily to ask whether these trucks are flouting the law with their acrid output. She wondered if she should be reporting the

truckers to watchdog programs such as the (800) END-SMOG hotline or the #SMOG line for cellular phone users.

Well, that all depends on the type and amount of exhaust you see, according to Jerry Martin of the California Air Resources Board in Sacramento.

State exhaust laws are more lenient for buses and big trucks than for cars. The reason is the hulking vehicles that share our roads are powered by diesel, a dirtier fuel than gasoline when it comes to emissions. Their engines are laboring with heavy burdens that make them churn out a lot of the sooty stuff.

For cars, the rule is simple: Atmospheric do-gooders should report any car that has steady, visible exhaust for more than 10 seconds. Also, Martin said its good to report cars that have a blue-tinted exhaust no matter how long it lasts, since the color denotes a particularly troublesome pollution problem.

For trucks, the same 10-second rule of thumb applies, but with a caveat: If the truck is accelerating from a standstill or climbing a hill, even the extended exhaust may be within legal limits. So it’s worthwhile to report any truck that has especially dark, black exhaust, Martin said. “If the exhaust blocks out more than half of the sunlight, report them,” Martin said.

OK, so with these somewhat vague standards you may feel a little queasy about deciding whether to report someone. But Martin says not to worry. If you report a suspected scofflaw, the only thing that happens is they get a letter in the mail advising them they may have a problem. So why bother at all? “We have a compliance rate of almost 50% from those letters, so they work in a lot of cases, even those where there’s no penalty,” Martin said. And that’s a lot considering the agency took 80,500 calls last year from Orange and surrounding counties.

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ATTENTION SPOKESPEOPLE: For bicycle riders, navigating the asphalt sprawl that is Orange County can be treacherous. Here’s a survival tip: Get a copy of the brand new Orange County Bikeways Map, which shows 805 miles of paved trails, striped lanes on roadways and sign-only routes. The map also has park-and-ride locations, tips on safety and bike laws, and instructions on how to properly load a bike on a county bus. The map was put together by the Orange County Transportation Authority, and you can get a free copy by calling (714) 636-7433 or checking local libraries and regional transit centers. The map will also be posted in upcoming weeks in cyberspace at https://www.octa.net with other local biking information.

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VANITY UNFAIR: A few weeks back, we told you about a California Department of Motor Vehicles Web page that can help you find and buy a personalized license plate. What could be controversial about that? Ask reader Andrew Ross Exler, or, to be more precise, the “Reader Formerly Known as Andrew Ross Exler.” We say that because the Palm Springs resident (he reads the Times Orange County via our Web page) legally changed his name to “Crusader” a few years back, a moniker that makes it clear that the paralegal loves a good fight. Now, thanks to us, he’s found his latest foil in the DMV.

Crusader used the Web page to apply for a provocative slogan--”IM GAY RU”--and he says he wasn’t the least bit surprised when the application was promptly refused by the powers that be. In fact, he was probably thrilled. Crusader has made a career out of, well, crusading.

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The battles have all been over access or toppling barriers based on gender and sexual orientation. He sued Disneyland in 1980 after he and a companion were ejected for same-sex dancing in the Tomorrowland disco, a suit that eventually led to a policy change at the amusement park.

He later won a legal battle with Chippendales to allow men to join the traditionally women-only audiences watching male strippers, followed by a victory that let men access services at Gloria Marshall Figure Salons.

Crusader isn’t undefeated, however. He was ordered to pay the legal bills of Sizzler Family Steakhouses after he sued to abolish their senior citizens discount as age discrimination. An appellate judge blasted Crusader at one hearing for wasting the court’s time for a case based on “frivolous” theory.

To some, Crusader is a champion. To others, he’s just a royal pain. Either way, we suggest the DMV get their lawyers ready.

“I am confident that this is a violation of my civil and constitutional rights and will pursue this matter until the DMV issues me this plate,” Crusader told us.

This is not a new issue for the DMV, which rakes in millions off vanity plates but has to deal daily with major headaches when it comes to screening out obscene and offensive slogans, both obvious and disguised. Deciding exactly what is offensive is touchy business, too.

The agency was told by a federal judge earlier this year that a 42-year-old Kensington man should be able to purchase an “HIV POS” plate. Kevin Dimmick, leader of a support group for HIV-positive heterosexuals, still hasn’t gotten the plate, and the state is mulling an appeal. Either way, the victory may mean that more crusaders will look to play tag, which doesn’t excite DMV officials. “The California license plate is not the place to fight our culture’s rhetorical battles,” DMV spokesman Evan Nossoff said.

The DMV Web page, by the way, can be found at https://plates.ca.gov/ if you’re looking for a new plate or some trouble.

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The Roads Scholar wants to hear your insights, stories and questions about traffic, the commuting experience and Orange County transportation issues. You can call him at (714) 966-5724, send e-mail to geoff.boucher@latimes.com or mail letters to him at The Times Orange County, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, CA, 92626. Please include your full name, hometown and phone number.