Last Updated on August 9, 2019 by CCAR Staff
Q. Honk: I drive on busy Bastanchury Road in Fullerton daily and I’m very cautious at intersections, especially at Euclid Street because of red-light runners. It is not unusual to have two, three or more cars speed through left turns after the light turns red. There are no red-light cameras, and when a police cruiser has been there, the officer did not react to the obvious violation. Is there a grace period of several seconds after a light changes?
– Bob Burns, Fullerton
A. Under California law, it is rather black and white – or more specifically, yellow and red.
If a vehicle noses into the intersection while the light is yellow, it is legal – although Lt. Jon Radus, the Traffic Bureau’s commander for your city’s finest, adds that taking a conservative approach is best.
“Yellow actually means slow down,” he said.
Bob, your city like many others had red-light cameras and turned them off years ago for various reasons: Some systems were deemed illegal cash cows, or the yellow lights were too short, or, simply, politicians were well aware that many motorists don’t like them.
Honk, who was nabbed years ago in Costa Mesa by a camera, told a transportation official the devices scared him a bit. The official chuckled and said, “That’s the point.”
T-bone accidents in intersections are among the most dangerous vehicle collisions.
As to whether officers just watch motorists violate the law, Radus said they have to see the violation, under the law, and to others it might seem like the driver didn’t make it into the intersection, but barely did. In big intersections, such as the one Bob mentioned, it can be especially tough to detect whether motorists actually ran a red, the lieutenant added, because they can squeeze in under a yellow light, but spend a lot of time in the intersection while it is red.
The lieutenant welcomed the public to call Fullerton’s Traffic Bureau to request special enforcement of an intersection or other street where traffic violations are breaking out, and he figured most cities would welcome such calls, too.
Q. Increasingly, companies with long trucks or trucks pulling trailers use the central turn lanes of two-way streets to park and make deliveries. Drivers/deliverymen stop their vehicles in the middle there and then off-load from the rear lift-gate and make deliveries to stores using pallet or hand trucks. This is patently unsafe. Is there any law concerning them using these center lanes, where drivers begin and end turns, to park their trucks while they are unloading?
– Gaynal Prather, Anaheim
A. Indeed.
“It is actually illegal,” said Shane Spielman, a motorcycle officer for your town. “This is one of those spirit-of-the-law versus letter-of-the-law (situations). … We kind of allow it, based on the situation.”
The delivery-truck men and women often don’t have many options, and Officer Spielman said if they have to make a bunch of turns in tight quarters to find another spot, well, that could lead to traffic getting held up.
“We don’t want a big rig doing a 90-point turn,” he said, and asked Honk if he had seen Austin Powers try to get a cart turned around in a tight tunnel.
He hadn’t, but pulled up the movie clip and got a kick out of it.
But if some clown parks there while he eats or wastes time in some other fashion instead of delivering stuff, well, he or she should expect a ticket for misuse of a lane or for not parking within 18 inches of the curb, state laws.
“We cite for that,” the good motorcycle cop said.
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.
