SPECIAL REPORT * Southland motorists are about to get a taste of something dreaded by speeders elsewhere in the U.S.--but scarcely used here because of political and financial obstacles--as the CHP broadens its use of a. . . New Tool Against Drivers--Radar

Sheltered behind a bend along the shoulder of the southbound Golden State Freeway north of Castaic, David Derczo sits in his car and waits.

Along come the big rigs, one by one down the grade, all traveling the speed limit, probably because the truckers’ CB network has already put out the word about California Highway Patrol Officer Derczo.

But eventually a semitrailer truck barrels over the hill toward the antenna facing out the back of the officer’s car. The driver sees the patrol car and slows, filling the air with the acrid smell of burning brakes. But it’s too late. Derczo pushes a button and clocks the big rig at 56 mph--16 mph over the truck speed limit.

He’s got him.

Southern Californians, who love the freedom of cruising the interstates in powerful cars, are about to join residents of the rest of the country, who live in fear of a “Smokey Bear” on their tail with a radar gun on the freeways.

Last month, the Newhall area CHP joined San Diego and San Bernardino counties’ CHP stations in using radar to seek out speeders on Interstate 5. Officials say the Altadena CHP office is not far behind, meaning that motorists can expect radar-equipped patrol cars on most of the Golden State Freeway from the Ventura Freeway to Gorman.

Unremarkable as that might be in most of the United States, it’s a big change on Los Angeles area freeways.

For years, local police have used radar on scattered city streets. CHP officers used it only on state back roads and selected sections of freeways with high accident rates.

But most freeways and interstates of Southern California, policed by the CHP, have long been free of police radar through a combination of state politics, a lack of funding and the CHP’s unwillingness to shove an unpopular policy down motorists’ throats.

But since the speed limit on most interstates and freeways is now 65 mph, public hostility to radar has softened, CHP officials say. More funding has been made available through federal grants, making radar an enticing tool with which to slow down speeders and reduce traffic-related deaths statewide.

The point is not to write more tickets, according to CHP spokesman Steve Kohler. Fewer tickets are actually written on radar-policed roads because drivers know the radar is out there and slow down, “and that’s the point,” Kohler said.

Critics, however, point out that fatal traffic accidents have been declining steadily without radar enforcement, a trend credited variously to stricter drunk-driving laws and advances in vehicle technology such as seat belts and air bags.

According to CHP statistics, traffic-related deaths have already fallen without interruption, from 5,500 in 1987 to 3,555 in 1996, the last year for which statistics are available. The rate of fatal accidents per million miles driven dropped from 6 in 1957 to 2.4 in 1987 to 1.43 in 1996.

On one stretch of the Golden State Freeway where radar will be used, between the Ventura and Ronald Reagan freeways, the number of fatal crashes dropped from seven in 1996 to five in 1997, and the number of accidents causing injuries fell from 227 to 145.

Before officers can write tickets on the Golden State Freeway, signs must be posted warning motorists that radar will be used, followed by a 30-day trial period in which only warnings will be given to those snared by radar.

After that, though, the lid comes off. The signs have yet to be posted on the San Fernando Valley stretch. But farther north, the 30-day grace period expired Feb. 5 for officers from the Newhall station.

It is probably only a matter of time until radar appears on other freeways too, CHP officials said.

It will only be used in marked black and white patrol cars, they said, and will be a “secondary tool,” not replacing the current tactic of driving in pace with the suspected speeder to get a reading.

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In contrast to its status as the trendsetter of car culture, California has long been the lone holdout, the only state in the nation whose statewide police force made almost no use of radar on its freeways.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in America, the cat-and-mouse game of radar-armed cops and motorists equipped with radar detectors years ago reached the level of high-tech warfare.

About 2 million radar detectors are sold each year in the U.S., said Jason Richards, legislative and public relations director for the Radio Assn. Defending Airwave Rights (known as RADAR), a national nonprofit group representing radar detector manufacturers and users.

The game has high stakes because of the cost of a speeding ticket, and especially because tickets lead to higher auto insurance premiums, Richards said.

“It’s kind of a draw,” he said. “The [radar detector] companies win because they sell them, and the insurance companies win because you get a ticket and they raise your rates.”

As of now, he said, the detector companies do little business in California, especially compared to sales in the Midwest and East, because most California motorists do not feel threatened by radar.

Why that is so is a complicated tale. In the 1980s, despite a campaign by the CHP to gain legislative authorization to use radar on state freeways, bills to fund the devices were shot down time after time.

Although the Highway Patrol was always legally entitled to use radar on freeways on its own, the agency wanted the Legislature’s blessing because of the issue’s political sensitivity, said CHP Cmdr. Kent Milton.

“If you’re getting the indication that people don’t want radar, to go ahead and use radar would seem to be a slap in the face,” he said.

Lobbyists for the Teamsters Union, representing truck drivers, and Assemblyman Lou Papan (D-Millbrae)--nicknamed “Leadfoot Lou” for his driving habits--vehemently opposed radar. Papan, who was once ticketed for driving 90 mph on Interstate 80, freely concedes that he used his political clout as chairman of the Rules Committee to quash any legislation funding radar guns.

“I was instrumental in stopping it,” Papan, who won back his seat in 1996 after a 10-year hiatus from the state Legislature, said in a recent interview.

And he remains anti-radar, he said.

“The first duty of the Highway Patrol is to assist a distressed motorist,” Papan said. “If you see a Highway Patrol officer, you’ll find the traffic lined up behind him. That’s effective in . . . slowing down speeders,” he said, arguing that the CHP would do a better job by simply putting more patrol cars on the road.

The Teamsters were opposed to radar because they feared that it would be used to set up speed traps and that the CHP would single out commercial trucks, said Barry Broad, a Teamsters lobbyist.

But since then, the union has somewhat softened its stance. “Some of our members are upset by its use, but frankly I think that most of our members are clearly benefited by vigorous enforcement of speed laws across the board on all commercial trucks and cars, because it makes the highway safer,” Broad said.

Union truckers have little incentive to speed in any case, he said, because they are paid by the hour, unlike truckers who get paid by the load and are under pressure to finish one job so they can start another.

Because the CHP couldn’t secure state funding to pay for radar equipment, counties that wanted it used to police local roads had to come up with their own money. So little by little, counties bought the equipment for the CHP, which began using it on accident-heavy roads such as California 126 from Santa Paula to the Santa Clarita Valley.

And when the speed limit was raised to 65 mph in December 1995, the CHP began receiving correspondence from the public requesting that officials strongly enforce it, Milton said, removing the concern over public reaction and the need for explicit approval from the Legislature.

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The most advanced radar unit in the CHP arsenal, called the Stalker, costs about $2,100. Their purchase is sometimes funded by the counties in which they are used, sometimes through federal grants, said George MacDougall of the CHP’s Research and Planning Department.

Stalkers are equipped with front and rear antennae, so they not only clock oncoming vehicles, and those in front of the patrol car, but vehicles coming up from the rear as well. Officers receive 40 hours of training on how to use the radar, authorities said, and the units must be checked for accuracy at the beginning and end of each shift.

Each radar ticket will be coded so officials can later compare the number of such tickets on a given stretch of roadway with the accident rate to see if radar reduces collisions, MacDougall said.