Author name: CCAR Staff

LOS ANGELES — Law enforcement officers will be out in force in the Southland and around the state beginning today as they keep a sharp lookout for motorists driving drunk or violating other traffic laws over the Labor Day weekend, authorities said.

The California Highway Patrol’s “maximum enforcement period” begins at 6:01 p.m. today and will continue through 11:59 p.m. Monday, the agency reported. During that time period, all available officers will be deployed to patrol the roadways.

“Drunk driving is one of the most serious traffic-related issues we face today,” CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow said.

“Make sure your plans for your end-of-summer celebrations always include a safe way to get home for yourself and your passengers,” Farrow said. “If you are caught driving drunk, you will be arrested.”

The Los Angeles Police Department will conduct the following DUI/driver’s license checkpoints tonight:

• 7 p.m. to midnight, at Manchester Avenue and Main Street

• 7 p.m. to midnight, at Florence Avenue and Main Street

• 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday, at Fairfax Avenue and Fifth Street

• 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday, at Figueroa and Ninth streets

Checkpoints and increased patrols will be conducted at various other locations through the weekend. Anyone seeing someone driving drunk was urged to call 911.

Paper or plastic? The question is not exclusive to grocery shoppers.

Transit riders transferring to a second bus usually grab a hand-punched, paper transfer from the driver to avoid paying twice. Now, they can use a plastic card with a computer chip preloaded with cash that deducts the transfer fee after tapping the fare box.

By February, or March at the latest, the only option for a transfer will be plastic, namely a Transit Access Pass (TAP) card obtained through Metro, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, for a buck and then loaded with cash by the passenger.

When the 24 related bus agencies in the county also change over, the paper transfer will be eliminated. Like the compact disc and the flip phone, these two-hour tickets to ride that have become so familiar to bus passengers for decades will be history.

“In about six months, we will do away with paper transfers. That’s the plan,” said Felicia Friesema, director of marketing and communication for Foothill Transit, which serves 14 million customers a year in 22 cities in the San Gabriel and Pomona valleys.

Cash still accepted

The Foothill Transit board on Aug. 25 voted to change to TAP card transfers only, the first bus agency outside of Metro in Los Angeles County to do so, Friesema said.

Metro and Foothill Transit, for example, will still allow customers to pay for a bus ride with cash. But without a TAP card, the rider will not get a transfer, and therefore will have to pay full fare each time he or she boards a bus.

A bus ride on Foothill Transit costs $1.50, while a transfer costs 50 cents. Without a TAP card, a rider would pay $3 to take two buses to complete one trip instead of $2.

The changeover to TAP cards negatively affects 8 percent of the county population, particularly those living within walking distance of fixed-route transit options, according to a Metro study. In the San Gabriel Valley, these areas include San Dimas, Glendora and Azusa, Friesema said. Residents of downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena, where Metro light-rail lines run, have access to TAP cards that are sold at train and subway stations.

How to get a TAP card

To fill the gap, Metro plans on distributing 1 million TAP cards in the next seven months at major transfer points, said Metro spokesman Paul Gonzales. He said customers from the Antelope Valley, Foothill Transit, Gardena, Montebello and Torrance use TAP cards less often and have limited access to TAP as compared to other neighborhoods in the Southland.

A card can be purchased and loaded by going to taptogo.net or at 400 vendor locations, such as city halls, senior centers, rail stations and convenience stores. Friesema said Foothill Transit would like to see the cards mailed to future customers.

For Foothill, the changeover involves converting 43 percent of its riders who currently pay cash to TAP cards. Also, Foothill will need to create its own paper transfers for its riders connecting to Omnitrans in San Bernardino County and Orange County Transportation Authority buses, because TAP is only valid in Los Angeles County.

The cashless economy

Many bus passengers in Los Angeles are working-class riders and are not as familiar with a cashless economy as train riders or car commuters, said Bart Reed, executive director of The Transit Coalition in the San Fernando Valley.

“There is a high propensity of people who don’t trust the system. They don’t embrace the technology so they don’t understand that they can get a better deal if they use a TAP card,” Reed said.

About 80 percent of the more than 500,000 Metro bus riders who take the systems’s 2,000 buses are low-income and 90 percent are minorities; about 60 percent of the riders make less than $15,000 a year, according to a Metro report from May 2014.

The high levels of low-income bus riders is one reason why Metro is not doing away with cash rides, only cash transfers. But paying cash would hurt low-income riders who need to transfer: About one-half of Metro riders transfer to a second train or bus to reach their destination, according to Metro.

Why bus drivers prefer TAP

The bus operators’ union supports the move to automatic TAP transfers.

“Anything that removes the operator from the fare collection system process is a good thing. The No. 1 reason for operator assault is the fare box,” said Andrew Gonzales, director of public relations for Smart Transportation division, the union that represents 5,000 bus and train operators for Metro.

Riders will like it because it will speed up boarding lines if drivers don’t have to hand out transfers, particularly at express bus stops that move passengers from Inland Empire park-and-ride lots directly to downtown Los Angeles.

“The TAP system streamlines the process. There is less bumbling; you just hang onto your TAP card and it makes boarding much faster,” Friesema said.

POMONA >> A police officer was recovering Thursday after his patrol unit was stuck by an allegedly impaired driver, authorities said.

Angelina Carcamo of Moreno Valley was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs Wednesday after she allegedly struck the patrol unit at Hamilton Boulevard and Second Street, according to a police statement.

Both Carcamo and her passenger were taken to a hospital as was the officer for a complaint of pain, authorities said. Their conditions was not immediately released.

The collision is under investigation by the Pomona Police Department’s Major Accident Investigation Team.

Anyone with any information about the collision is asked to call the Traffic Services Bureau at 909-620-2081.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA >> A teenage boy was arrested Thursday and a second person was being sought in connection with the death of a Pomona man in what investigators believe was a street race.

Julio Lopez, 46, of Pomona was on his way to a Verizon Wireless store when his car was broadsided by a 16-year-old boy driving a Mustang on Wednesday, authorities said.

The teen, whose name was being withheld by San Bernardino County sheriff’s officials, was arrested around 3 p.m. Thursday on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, Teresa McMahon. spokeswoman for the sheriff’s Rancho Cucamonga station, said in an email.

Lopez was trying to make a left turn onto Rochester Avenue from Jersey Boulevard shortly before 4:30 p.m. Wednesday when the fatal collision occurred, according to a San Bernardino County sheriff’s statement.

Deputies said they believe the teen was street racing. Lopez was pronounced dead at the scene.

Laura Lopez, still numb from the shock of her husband’s death, described her 22-year marriage as amazing.

“We did everything together,” she said. “He was full of life. He was the clown of the party. I still can’t believe he’s gone.”

In addition to his wife, he leaves behind a 17-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son.

Investigators said the teen may have been racing another Ford Mustang along Rochester from Arrow Route. The second driver never stopped.

Investigators were looking for the second Mustang, described as a black 2000 to 2003 model with a hood scoop.

Anyone who witnessed the fatal crash or has any information about the other vehicle or driver is asked to contact the Rancho Cucamonga station at 909-477-2800.

Staff Writer Doug Saunders contributed to this report.

You’re not invincible.

Ed Scott knows it, because his son is dead.

Eddie, 17, died June 5 last year. He and the driver of the vehicle he was in had inhaled nitrous oxide — laughing gas.

But within 13 minutes on the 10 Freeway, near where it intersects the 15, there would be no laughing.

Eddie and the driver of the car he was in passed out, Scott said. They lost control and crashed.

“My son was instantly killed,” said Scott, a former Rialto city councilman.

Instantly, it was another life, another lesson, in how one moment, and decision can change many lives.

Law enforcement across the Inland Empire have been out in force this week, saturating a region from Ontario to Redlands with DUI checkpoints and patrols as Labor Day weekend approaches, and revelers party. They’ll continue into the weekend.

And that’s why everyone from police to Scott are trying to get the message out.

“I guess my message to people would be, you’re not invincible,” Scott said. You make a poor choice, drinking or inhaling different types of drugs and the consequence can be very devastating. You could not only lose your life, but the lives of others.”

That law enforcement blitz is fueled by some key numbers.

In San Bernardino alone there have been 13 DUI deaths over the past three years.

• In 2013, out of 18 fatal wrecks, four were DUIs

• In 2014, out of 32 fatal wrecks, seven were alcohol-related and four were drug-related

• This year, out of 24 fatal wrecks, two were alcohol-related

That’s just in one Inland Empire city over three years, according to San Bernardino police Sgt. Vikki Cervantes.

Other cities can relate, and aren’t taking chances.

For instance, if you’re in Ontario on Sept. 5, between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m., don’t be surprised if you see DUI enforcement teams stopping suspected alcohol and drug-impaired drivers.

On Labor Day weekend in 2013, authorities reported 424 crash deaths nationwide. Nearly half of those involved drivers who had been drinking, according to stats from the Ontario Police Department.

Men, according to authorities, are more likely than women to drive drunk. In 2013, 23 percent of men were drunk in alcohol-related crashes — 15 percent for women, according to an Office of Transportation Safety fact sheet.

So, police continue their efforts, and offer some wisdom when they can.

But does the message cut through?

“The numbers are higher than they should be,” Cervantes said. “With all the enforcement, the media, the education we’re putting out there. They are way higher than they should be.”

In the meantime, a father still remembering the loss of his son, tries to get the message through.

“When this happens, you can go two ways,” Scott said. “You can spend your life at the cemetery or try and make a difference.”

Some data, according to an Office of Transportation Safety fact sheet:

• It’s illegal to drive with a BAC (blood-alcohol concentration) of .08 or higher.

• 10,076 people were killed in drunken driving crashes in 2013, and 65 percent were the drunken drivers themselves.

• Among drivers between 18 and 34, who were killed in crashes over Labor Day weekend in 2013, 45 percent of those deaths involved a drunk driver with a BAC.

MONTCLAIR >> Two people are in critical condition following a violent crash Tuesday night in Montclair, officials said.

The crash took place around 9:30 p.m., in the 4800 block of Mission Boulevard, according to a Montclair police statement.

Officers found a vehicle that had crashed into the center median along Mission Boulevard. The force of the impact caused the front end to separate from the rest of the vehicle, officials said.

One occupant was ejected from the vehicle and found lying in the road. A second person was found on the front passenger seat breathing but unresponsive.

Paramedics flew one of the victims to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, and the second was driven to the same emergency room. They are currently listed in critical condition.

Witnesses said the vehicle was traveling at speeds exceeding 80 mph just before the crash, according to the police.

An investigation is being conducted to verify if alcohol was a contributing factor to the collision.

JOHANNESBURG >> At least 38 girls and young women were killed in a crash while travelling to a famous traditional festival in Swaziland, a rights group said on Saturday.

About 20 others were injured when the truck they were in collided with another vehicle on Friday, the Swaziland Solidarity Network said in a statement. The young women and girls were travelling on the back of an open truck, the rights group said.

Police in Swaziland, a small mountainous country of 1.4 million people bordering northeastern South Africa and Mozambique, discouraged reporting on the accident, said the group. Press photographers were prevented from taking pictures at the scene, said a Swazi journalist who insisted on anonymity for security reasons. However some people managed to take photographs with their cell phones.

A high-ranking police officer contacted by The Associated Press refused to comment, saying the matter was related to the “highest authority,” and no details could be disclosed to the media.

“You don’t hide a death,” said Lucky Lukhele, spokesman for the Swaziland Solidarity Network. Members of the Swaziland Defense Force alerted the rights group to the accident, Lukhele said, adding that he expected the death toll to rise.

The females were travelling on a highway between the Swazi cities of Mbabane and Manzini, when the truck carrying them smashed into a vehicle and was then hit in the rear by a second truck, the Times of Swaziland reported.

“We were about 50 on board the first truck that smashed into the Toyota van,” said Siphelele Sigudla, 18, a survivor quoted by the Times of Swaziland.

The girls and young women were on their way to the Swazi king’s royal residence for the annual reed dance.

“We all have heard about the dark cloud that has befallen the ‘imbali,’” said King Mswati III, using the Swati language word for flower, used to refer to the groups of women dancers. Speaking at the opening of an international trade fair in Swaziland’s economic center Manzini, he promised that the affected families would be compensated. He added that an investigation into the accident was underway.

About 40,000 young women participate in the eight-day reed dance ceremony in which they sing and dance, often bare-breasted, as they bring reeds to reinforce the windbreak around the royal residence, a government website said.

Swaziland is Africa’s last absolute monarchy, ruled by King Mswati since 1986. Swaziland held parliamentary elections in 2013, but many international observers say the electoral process is manipulated to prolong the king’s hold on power. According to the king, Swaziland’s image has been damaged by misinformation.

A man in his 70s died Friday morning when the vehicle he was driving crashed into a power pole in San Bernardino.

There was a medical episode for the driver that resulted in the crash, according to San Bernardino police.

The crash occurred at 9:29 a.m. in the 700 block of East Central Avenue, police said.

The driver’s identity was not immediately available.

— Staff report

POMONA — The coroner’s office identified a 30-year-old female pedestrian Thursday who was fatally struck by two vehicles in Pomona, one of which left without stopping.

The accident occurred in the 3600 block of Temple Avenue around 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, said Pomona police Lt. Alex Rilloraza.

Killed at the scene was Lauro Alvarado of Pomona, coroner’s Assistant Chief Ed Winter said.

The driver of the vehicle that initially struck the victim stopped at the scene, but the driver of the second vehicle, which was described as small, old and dark gray, fled, said Pomona police Sgt. William Tucker.