Tell It to the Traffic Judge--but Be Quick About It

It took less than two minutes to complete the trial of Howkee Ng, an elderly motorist who was fighting a traffic ticket in Alhambra Superior Court.

The police officer who issued the citation testified that Ng made an illegal U-turn at the Monterey Park intersection of East Garvey and Orange avenues, ignoring a sign that prohibits the maneuver.

“I just want to say that I didn’t see that sign,” Ng offered in his defense.

“Did you go back later and see the sign?” asked Superior Court Commissioner Donald S. Kennedy.

“Yes,” Ng replied feebly.

“Guilty,” declared Kennedy, imposing a $103 fine.

Kennedy would like every Traffic Court case to move so quickly. For good reason. On an average day, the commissioner hears more than 50 traffic cases--all before noon.

His courtroom is not unusual. Traffic courts throughout the state are busier than ever. In Los Angeles County alone, Traffic Court cases have increased by nearly 3% each year for the past three years.

Kennedy believes that increasing traffic congestion on Southern California streets and freeways contributes to the longer lines in Traffic Court. The worse traffic gets, he said, the more frustrated motorists get. That often leads to speeding, running red lights and other traffic violations--which Kennedy calls “gridlock tickets.”

Another reason for the busier Traffic Court calendar is the increasing number of traffic violators who demand a trial in hopes of winning and thus keeping their insurance rates down.

That all leads to a busy day for commissioners like Kennedy, who handles traffic matters in the morning and other civil and criminal matters in the afternoon.

On a recent Wednesday morning, he plowed through 29 traffic arraignments in less than an hour. He took a short break and then presided over 23 trials in an hour, including some cases that involved eyewitness testimony and in-depth research of the traffic code.

But Kennedy does not dispense assembly-line justice. He tries to show compassion as he moves quickly through his lengthy agenda. After all, he said, he is a regular commuter who knows what it’s like to navigate the gridlock of Southland streets.

For example, Fabian Varela, a recent transplant from Texas, was before Kennedy fighting a citation for illegally crossing the double yellow lines on the San Gabriel Valley Freeway and driving alone in the carpool lane.

In his defense, Varela said he swerved into the carpool lane to avoid an accident. Besides, he said, he had not seen any carpool lanes in Texas, so he wasn’t sure what they were for.

Kennedy pointed out that every state in the union prohibits drivers from crossing double yellow lines--even Texas.

Still, the commissioner gave Varela a break, saying, “I’ll take into consideration you are from Texas.” He dismissed the $270 ticket for driving in a carpool lane but found Varela guilty of illegally crossing the double lines, which carries a $135 fine.

Kennedy has been a Traffic Court commissioner in the San Gabriel Valley for five years and has heard every lame excuse offered to get out of a ticket. He doesn’t have time now to marvel at the nonsense of some defendants.

Take Juana Martinez, who pleaded guilty to jaywalking near East Los Angeles College. She told Kennedy she had a good excuse.

“What is your excuse?” he asked.

“The officer was hiding,” she deadpanned, sparking giggles from the nearly packed courtroom.

Kennedy didn’t even smirk. “Just because you didn’t see a police officer doesn’t mean you can break the law,” he told her before fining her $54.

Often in Traffic Court, a cat-and-mouse game is played between defendants and the police. This happens when motorists ask for a trial in hopes that the police officer who cited them won’t show up, forcing the judge to dismiss the ticket.

On the recent Wednesday, Kennedy dismissed four cases because the citing officers failed to appear. The four defendants who won by forfeit marched triumphantly out of the courtroom.

Not everyone was so lucky.

Six other defendants who asked for trials changed their pleas to guilty when they found that the officer who ticketed them did show up. Kennedy gave each confessed scofflaw a fine or a traffic school assignment and sent them away.

One officer who came to court only to have the motorist she ticketed plead guilty said she didn’t mind giving up her morning.

“It’s not like we are not being paid to be here,” said the officer. “It’s part of the job.”

Freddy Chow, a 21-year-old student who was ticketed in Monterey Park for modifying the exhaust system on his new Honda Prelude, proved that it pays to be prepared.

Monterey Park Police Sgt. Christopher Keller cited Chow because he believed the car’s exhaust system generated excessive noise, in violation of the vehicle code.

“I don’t have any decibel measuring device except my ears,” Keller said.

But Chow produced a certificate indicating that his car’s exhaust system generates less than 95 decibels. (That is equivalent to the sound of a jet taking off.)

Kennedy was not impressed. “You show me in the vehicle code where it says it can be 95 decibels, OK?” the commissioner said.

Chow couldn’t cite the vehicle code section but he produced a page he printed from the California Highway Patrol’s Web site that said the maximum noise level on a car is 95 decibels.

Surprised, Kennedy scoured the three-inch-thick vehicle code book in search of the section that imposes a decibel noise limit on cars. After a few minutes, he gave up and found Chow not guilty.

Still, the commissioner scolded Chow, accusing the young man of modifying the car just to make it louder.

Later, as he relaxed in his chambers, Kennedy said he gives drivers like Chow a break because he doesn’t consider traffic violators to be criminals. To him, they are just people who don’t always use their better judgment when they get behind the wheel.

If you want to tell it to the judge, Kennedy said, he will be understanding. Just make it snappy.

If you have questions, comments or story ideas regarding driving or traffic in Southern California, send an email to behindthewheel@latimes.com