CHiP on the Shoulder

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 Derczo, a California Highway Patrol officer.

But eventually a tractor-trailer barrels over the hill toward the antenna facing out the back of the officer’s patrol 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 truck at 16 mph over the speed limit.

He’s got him.

Southern Californians who love the freedom of cruising the interstates in powerful cars are about to join others across the country who live in fear of a “Smokey bear” on their tail with a radar gun.

Last month, the Newhall-area CHP office joined Highway Patrol stations in San Diego County in using radar to track speeders on Interstate 5; the CHP also uses it on Interstate 15 in San Bernardino County. 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, police have used radar on city streets. CHP officers used it only on rural state highways and certain freeway sections with high accident rates.

But most freeways and interstates in Southern California, policed by the CHP, have long been free of radar because of a combination of state politics, a lack of funding and the CHP’s unwillingness to impose an unpopular policy on motorists.

But now that the speed limit on most interstates and freeways is 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 to slow speeders and reduce traffic deaths statewide.

The point is not to write more tickets, according to CHP spokesman Steve Kohler. Fewer tickets are written on radar-policed roads because drivers know the radar is 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 to stricter drunk-driving laws and safety advances, such as increased use of seat belts and the development of air bags.

According to CHP statistics, traffic deaths statewide have 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 has dropped from 6.0 in 1957 to 2.4 in 1987 and 1.43 in 1996.

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

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

After that, 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 a suspected speeder to get a reading.

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

Meanwhile, elsewhere in America, radar-equipped cops and motorists with detectors for years have engaged in a high-tech cat-and-mouse game.

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

The game continues 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.”

He said detector companies do little business in California now, especially compared with the Midwest and East, because most California motorists do not feel threatened by radar enforcement.

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.

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

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

And he remains opposed to radar.

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

But the union’s position has softened somewhat. “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, 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 the agency to use it on 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 state roads with high accident rates, such as California 126 from Santa Paula to the Santa Clarita Valley.

And when the speed limit was raised to 65 mph--or higher in some places--in December 1995, the CHP began receiving correspondence from the public asking that officials strongly enforce the law, Milton said, removing the concern about 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. Some of the devices are paid for by the counties in which they are used; others by federal grants, said George MacDougall of the CHP’s Research and Planning Department.

The Stalkers are equipped with front and rear antennas, so they can not only clock vehicles coming up from the rear, but also oncoming vehicles and those in front of the patrol car. Officers receive 40 hours of training in the radar’s use, 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 determine if radar enforcement reduces collisions, MacDougall said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Stalker Radar

One of the advantages of The Stalker radar is the ability to track two vehicles at once.

Previously, the patrol car (A) would not have been able to track the smaller and faster car (B) because the closer and larger truck (C) would shield it from radar measurement.

The STalker radar can simultaneoulsy track the speed of both the strongest target and the fastest target in the area.

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Facts About the Stalker

* Using the front and rear antenna, the radar can monitor traffic going in the same and opposite directions. This can be done whether the patrol car is moving or stationary.

* The Stalker radar is difficult to detect with a radar detector.

* The Stalker has four range sensitivities that work from approximately 1/10 of a mile to over one mile, depending on road conditions.

Source: Applied Concepts Inc.