CHP Task Force to Monitor Antelope Valley Freeway

SANTA CLARITA — In an effort by the California Highway Patrol to improve safety on the Antelope Valley Freeway, a special task force has been called in to crack down on speeders and other unsafe drivers.

Formed last year, the 10-member Community Enhancement Response Team is assigned to the most dangerous stretches of Southern California highways. The task force, which is deployed each day in a different area of the CHP’s southern division, will patrol the Antelope Valley Freeway several times in the coming months, CHP officials said.

“You have a lot of people speeding and following too close and a lot of accidents out there,” said Officer Cassandra Trout of the CHP’s Newhall station. “Having 10 extra officers all concentrating on one particular area will definitely help.”

Officers with the Newhall station requested the task force because of an unusually high number of accidents and citations on the freeway in recent months.

Officer Bill Preciado said the presence of 10 additional patrol vehicles on a highway, even if they are only there once or twice per month, can have a dramatic effect on people’s driving habits. The objective of the program, he said, is to prevent potential accidents.

“If you see a black-and-white pull someone over, and then you see another one half a mile down the road, you’re going to say, ‘They’re out here,’ and slow down, Preciado said. “All these units saturating an area will bring down the statistics.”