County Plan Seeks Smog Cop to Patrol Highways

A new breed of cop could be cruising Ventura County roads next year in search of those behind the wheels of smoke-spewing vehicles that illegally pollute the air.

Under the proposed Smoking Vehicle Program, expected to be passed by Ventura County supervisors Tuesday, the county’s Air Pollution Control District would contract with the California Highway Patrol for one sworn officer to seek and ticket smoking vehicles.

The smog cop would begin patrolling on Jan. 1, with the experimental program running through the end of 1992. Repeated offenses could bring fines of $250 for automobile drivers and up to $5,000 for commercial truck drivers, officials said.

The program, which would cost $94,500 its first year, is also expected to include a hot line for the public to report smoking cars.

A similar hot line in the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which covers Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, receives about 16,000 calls a month, officials said. But Ventura County officials expect closer to 350 calls per month.

“The big payoff with this program is in people’s increased awareness of the part that motor vehicles play in causing our county’s smog problem,” said William Mount, head of planning for the air pollution district.

Emissions from motor vehicles contribute more than 50% of the smog-causing pollutants in the county. Ozone, the principal component of smog, is produced when emissions from motor vehicles and industry combine and are cooked by the sun.

The program, designed primarily to remove older polluting vehicles from the roads, would be funded with revenues from the county’s new $2 annual fee affixed to vehicle license registrations.

The state Bureau of Automotive Repair, which runs the state’s smog-check program, said 10% of the state’s cars produce about 60% of hydrocarbon emissions, which contribute to smog.

The program’s smog cop and hot line would be a welcome addition to the county’s efforts to improve unhealthy air quality in Ventura County, environmentalists said.

“This program is a nice Christmas gift to give the residents of the county,” said Patricia Baggerly, a registered nurse and spokeswoman for the Ventura County Environmental Coalition. “If it decreases the health costs of people who breathe those particles, the program will be well worth the money.”

Ozone pollution can reduce lung capacity, induce asthmatic episodes and aggravate heart and lung disease. Ventura County’s air quality fails to meet federal health standards 50 days per year on average. It fails the more stringent state health standards an average of 130 days each year.

But the program would only add to the hardships that poor and low-income families who drive older cars already endure, said Nancy Nazario, the county’s ombudsman for the homeless.

“This program only looks at half the problem,” Nazario said. “It provides one solution in getting old cars off the road, but it doesn’t address the transportation needs of low-income people.”

She said those who drive older, poorly maintained cars are not polluting by choice.

“If they are smoking, the cars are probably completely unreliable and a source of heartache and worry for the people who drive them,” she said.

Nazario said she would like to see a program to provide financial assistance to repair cars for low-income people.

The air pollution district is checking into funding mechanisms to buy older cars, Mount said. But he said there are complications to a buy-back program.

“You have to make sure the car is really running and that the people don’t just go out and drive another one that is polluting just as badly,” he said.

In Los Angeles, the Unocal Corp. donated money to buy more than 8,000 pre-1975 model cars for $700 each.

Ventura County Supervisor Susan Lacey said the program would also catch those drivers who bring vehicles into the county from states that have less stringent emission-control programs than California.

“We need to make sure everybody plays by the same rules,” she said. “As long as cars are 50% of the problem, every time we clean up one of those cars we’re working toward our air-quality solution.”

FYI

Beginning Jan. 1, motorists and citizens who see smoking vehicles may report them on Ventura County’s toll-free hot line: (800) 559-SMOG.