Built for Speed? CHP Is Watching

If you are traveling the freeways of northern Orange County, you’ve got a new best friend now riding the road with you. It’s California Highway Patrol radar.

Even if you don’t see a CHP vehicle, the radar warning signs should be an apt reminder to slow down if you’re driving too fast.

The CHP’s Westminster division, which covers nearly the top half of the county, has installed radar on almost all its patrol cars--both front and back.

That means the CHP vehicle behind you can clock your speed, and so can the one ahead of you. No more hitting the brakes just because you see you’re approaching a police car too fast. It will be too late.

The CHP installed the radar equipment in July, but gave motorists a 30-day grace period, issuing warnings only. But beginning Aug. 1, the tickets handed out were real.

“We want to emphasize to the public that we’re not trying to issue more tickets,” CHP spokeswoman Denise Medina said. “It’s just that with Orange County getting bigger and the freeways busier, we thought we needed another tool to help keep accidents down.”

As jammed as the freeways seem, it may surprise you that California’s roadways are the safest they’ve ever been.

Last year, California saw 1.19 deaths per 100 million miles driven. That’s the lowest ever recorded, and less than half what it was 10 years ago, CHP statistics show. (By comparison, those numbers were in double digits before the freeway system began to build up in the 1950s.)

“We’re just trying to keep it that way,” she said. “We’re convinced radar will at least keep down the number of fender benders that cause such traffic problems.”

The most logical question, of course, is how fast you have to be going before you get a ticket when caught by radar? After all, we all drive too fast on the freeways. If we don’t, we run the risk of getting run over.

Here’s the rule of thumb the CHP goes by, Medina said: “We’re after the person who won’t go with the flow.”

With the speed limit at 65 mph, she explained, most of us drive with the normal traffic flow of 68 to 70 mph. Those getting tickets are not content with that flow.

It’s not just the speed that’s dangerous, Medina points out.

“In order to keep that speed, that driver has to be riding your bumper at times, and making a lot of unsafe lane changes,” she said. “That’s the person who stands out to us.”

Don’t think you’ve escaped the radar’s detection just because the CHP officer is not in your lane. The radar can scan all lanes. And do not think you’re beyond getting a ticket just because you are in the carpool lane.

“It never ceases to amaze me the people who actually believe that there is no speed limit in the carpool lane,” Medina said.

The carpool lane speed limit is the same as elsewhere, 65 most places, 55 in a construction zone.

But what happens when you obey that speed in the carpool lane, yet someone oblivious to the law rides your bumper? You can’t let that driver pass without crossing a double-yellow line yourself. What do you do?

“If you honestly believe you are in danger,” Medina said, “move over and let them pass you.”

By the way, there’s another way to look at those CHP statistics on the low death rate. Yes, the rate is low; but we still see more than 3,000 traffic deaths in this state each year.

Readers may reach Hicks by calling (714) 564-1049 or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com.