Freeway Service Patrol Winning Fans 1 at a Time

It was 7 a.m. on a clear Southern California workday and social worker Alva Corral was trundling down the fast lane of southbound Interstate 5, the radio in her SUV tuned to an upbeat Top 40 station.

Suddenly, that most essential of background noises--the sound of the engine--dropped out of the mix. With an unnerving push of the pedal, Corral realized that her accelerator was useless.

She pulled her car to a narrow shoulder by the center divider when she heard the first terrifying whoooosh!--a fellow fast-laner streaking south, just inches from her passenger door.

“I realized I had to call somebody,” she said. Corral pulled out her cell phone to arrange a tow, the furious rush-hour traffic lending urgency to the task.

It was then, with all the timing of a good guy in a western, that help arrived in the form of a tow truck from the Metro Freeway Service Patrol, which offered to give Corral and her Isuzu Rodeo a free tow to a safe spot off the freeway.

“The thing I like was that they were really quick,” said Corral, 29. “I didn’t before but now I notice them when I’m on the freeway.”

For the last 10 years, the tow trucks of the Metro Freeway Service Patrol have been prowling 422 miles of Los Angeles County highways. In that time, they have rescued nearly 3 million stranded motorists, free of charge.

Local transportation officials say the service is an effective antidote to gridlock and air pollution. A 1997-98 university study found that stalled cars typically were cleared from freeways in five minutes, on average 15 minutes faster than when the program wasn’t on the scene.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the patrol along with Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol, estimates that the quick tows eliminate delays that would keep drivers on the road for an extra 22 million hours a year. That translates into $218 million in saved wages, sales and productivity costs.

The MTA also estimates that the service keeps 3,000 tons of air pollutants from idling cars out of the air each year.

Despite all those benefits, transportation officials concede that most drivers have never heard of the 145-truck service, and tow truck operators say confused motorists often rebuff their offers of help.

“Yeah, they think there’s some kind of catch,” said driver Orlando Orellana.

The patrol tends to win fans one stranded motorist at a time. And, in a state where one person is injured every 1 minute and 49 seconds as a result of a traffic collision, it’s one of those programs that doesn’t appear to have many detractors.

Even fans admit the service is expensive--about $45 per truck per hour, or $20 million total per year locally, with the money coming from a mix of local sales tax revenue and state highway funds.

But the many fast and no-charge rescues on crowded freeways have created an enamored following.

“The acceptance rate by the public is 99.9% excellent,” said UC Berkeley transportation professor Alex Skabardonis, who conducted the 1997-98 study. “Every time they help somebody, they give out a survey, and there’s very high satisfaction. What do you want? Seventy dollars to pay for a [private] tow truck, or do you want a free service?”

Because of the program’s success, similar services have cropped up in nine other California metropolitan areas. State funding, which was due to expire this year, was extended indefinitely by the Legislature in 2000, thanks to support from such lawmakers as Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks).

McClintock, a fiscal conservative who has blasted the Davis administration for failing to build new highways, said the $21.3 million invested in the road-rescue program is simply worth the cost.

“It does help to reduce the peak congestion because of its ability to move stalled cars on the freeway,” he said. “But there’s no substitute for increasing the lane capacity of our highways.”

Those benefits don’t come without risk, however. Patrol drivers spend their days exposed to an endless, unforgiving torrent of speeding steel, and all keep in mind the fate of Ricardo Arturo Hernandez, a 24-year-old patrol driver who was struck by a car and killed on the Golden State Freeway in June 1999. He was changing a flat tire.

It may sound surprising in these cynical times, but what attracts drivers like Orellana to the job is the chance to wear the white hat, to spend the work day literally rescuing damsels, and others, in distress. Drivers say that helps them live with the relatively low salary, which ranges from $8.50 to $14 per hour.

“The pay could be better, but I really like helping people,” said Orellana, a 27-year-old native of El Salvador. “That’s why I stay here.”

Every day, Orellana and three other drivers patrol a nine-mile stretch of the Ventura Freeway from Vineland Avenue to Reseda Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley. During one recent afternoon shift, they helped at least a dozen motorists before 5:30 p.m. The stranded were a group as diverse as Los Angeles.

Encino resident Sarah Shamtob--an 18-year-old wearing a T-shirt that read “princess”--had a breakdown in one of the Ventura Freeway’s middle lanes. The patrol hauled Shamtob, her Honda and its menagerie of stuffed animals to the safety of Hayvenhurst Avenue in a matter of minutes.

Parviz Hohammadi had transmission trouble on the way to see his lawyer and was grateful for a tow to a nearby parking lot. A few minutes later, electrician Ray Rodriguez was spotted on the shoulder, checking the radiator of his Mercedes-Benz diesel sedan. He politely called out a request for a little water.

“They’ve helped me once before,” Rodriguez said, sweating under a loose-fitting pair of overalls in the afternoon sun. “I had a breakdown in the No. 1 lane, a blowout, and these guys changed my tire for me. They’re fantastic. They don’t get paid enough.”

Hollywood resident Michael Powell, meanwhile, took a bad gamble on the gas gauge of his 1964 Chevrolet pickup.

“I’m outta gas, homey,” the 44-year-old Powell said as a patrol truck pulled up in front of him. “I was trying to get back to work from the dentist, and I only had an hour.”

Patrol workers will pour one free gallon of gas for those who find themselves on empty. Many of them have even come to recognize a small group of drivers who seem to make a habit of running out on the freeway. With gas prices remaining high, some people apparently will do anything to get free fuel.

Matt Cusumano was not looking for a freebie when he ran out recently alongside the Ventura Freeway. He was simply a young man in a hurry who forgot to fill up.

“I think I can figure out what happened,” said Cusumano, wearing a tie and a starched white shirt, as he eyed his stalled Saab. “I think I ran out of gas.”

After Cusumano got his free gallon, a reporter gave freeway patrolman Oscar Blas ample opportunity to make a few wisecracks. Pulling back into the slow lane, Blas opted to take the high road.

“Hey,” he said. “[He was] just a guy in a hurry.”

*

If you have questions or comments on driving in Southern California, send an e-mail to behindthewheel@latimes.com.