Stats show there are plenty of carpool-lane cheaters
Q. Honk: A few weeks ago you talked about carpool-lane cheaters. The worse section I know of is on the southbound 55 Freeway in the morning, from Chapman Avenue in Orange to Edinger Avenue at the Santa Ana-Tustin border. I would guess that 48% of those in the carpool lane there are cheaters.
– Jim Fuchs, Costa Mesa
A. Awhile back Honk mentioned that Caltrans estimated there are stretches in Orange County where 30% of the drivers are illegally in carpool lanes – they carry no passengers, don’t have a red or purple clean-air-vehicle sticker and are not on a motorcycle.
There were other spots, Caltrans spokesman David Matza told him, where less than 10% of the vehicles were in violation of the carpool-lane law.
When Honk asked Matza about the location Jim mentioned, he said Caltrans didn’t have data for that spot. But the agency did have 2018 estimates based on nearby counts.
“The violation rate at Walnut Avenue (north of Chapman) is approximately at 12.3%, and 5.3% at Warner Avenue (south of Edinger),” he told Honk.
Not 48%, but still pretty bad.
Q. I bought a 2019 Cadillac and when the registration sticker arrived it only had two digits, “20,” for the year. When I received registration on other vehicles I currently own, the stickers had four digits, “2020.” Why is that?
– Garret Cornish, Fountain Valley
A. Congrats on the new ride, Garret.
Honk isn’t sure on the reason, and couldn’t find out.
The answer is apparently in some Department of Motor Vehicles vault, as the agency won’t disclose why one car gets the two-digit sticker and the next gets a four-digit version. A spokesman would only say that the answer is kept secret to make it more difficult on counterfeiters.
This two-type system goes back years, Honk does know that.
Honkin’ fact No. 1: The light-rail system that links Long Beach and Los Angeles is now called the A Line. But after a $350 million upgrade, at least some of the trains’ electronic signs on their fronts and sides still ID the railway as the Blue Line.
During the renovation of the line that opened in 1990, the southern half was closed for four months, and then the northern portion for five months.
When Honk asked about the delay in updated signage, Jose Ubaldo, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, told him: “Metro is in the process of updating the head signs on its entire fleet of rail cars. The A Line head signs are expected to be fully updated in the next two weeks.”
And why the delay?
“While the A Line was not in service, the A Line train cars were being used to support other lines,” said another spokesman, Brian Haas. “So there wasn’t really any downtime for the cars themselves.”
Honk is still scratching his noggin on why the electronic signs couldn’t be changed in time.
Honkin’ fact No. 2: If you want to chat with a California Highway Patrol officer about roadway laws or anything else, you can drop by Coffee with a Cop from 8 to 11 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 21, at MAZ Cafe Con Leche at 608 N. Lacy St. in Santa Ana. For more info, call Officer Tino Olivera at the CHP’s Santa Ana station house at 714-567-6000.
To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk.