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No Citation in Reporting Bad Drivers

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Dear Traffic Talk:

Several answers in your column to questions regarding motorists’ bad driving habits advised the people to call the Los Angeles Police Department’s Valley Traffic Division to report the drivers.

What happens when such a report is made? Are the drivers cited based on such reports?

As a pedestrian I am constantly observing bad drivers and have often been practically run down by them. I usually am able to get the license numbers, but will reporting them do any good? Will they actually get a ticket for their traffic infractions?

Marshall Kass

Sylmar

Dear Marshall:

Reporting unlawful driving, even you if have the motorist’s license plate number, won’t get the driver ticketed, said Officer Dave Hovey at Valley Traffic Division. An officer needs to observe the traffic infraction to issue a citation, he said.

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To report such infractions as speeding or running stop signs on streets with light traffic and few police patrols, call Valley Traffic at (818) 756-9203. The officer assigned to the particular area will return your call and go to the location to investigate the problem, Hovey said.

Dear Traffic Talk:

Can you identify a box with an antenna attached to its bottom at a traffic signal at Vanowen Street and Clybourn Avenue in North Hollywood? It doesn’t look like a camera and I don’t think it has anything to do with the traffic lights. Does it have anything to do with monitoring noise at Burbank Airport?

Mike B. Hoblinski

North Hollywood

Dear Mike:

City officials couldn’t locate the device you described but said it may have been related to ongoing underground construction. The device may have been used to identify underground utilities before digging in the area, officials said.

Traffic Talk appears Fridays in The Times Valley Edition. Readers may submit comments and questions about traffic in the Valley to Traffic Talk, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311. Include your name, address and phone number. Letters may be edited, and no anonymous letters will be accepted. Fax letters to (818) 772-3385. E-mail questions to valley.news@latimes.com.

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