Q: I like the idea of more freeway lights (Bill is referring to a previous Honk column), but what’s really needed to protect lives is getting more California Highway Patrol officers on the road. I can drive for hours without seeing a single officer! It’s absolutely nuts as thousands of vehicles significantly exceed the speed limit, tailgating those going at a safe speed, then suddenly weaving in and out of traffic while speeding. Oh, and are motorcyclists permitted to go way over the speed limit? I have never seen a motorcycle pulled over! It’s like the wild west out there, driving California freeways. Can you please ask the CHP to start doing its job and make it safer for motorists?
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– Bill Glazier, Fullerton
A: Honk passed along your message to the CHP’s headquarters, Bill, a thought other Honk readers have had over the years, and asked for some data that does provide some perspective.
Back in 1968, the state budgeted for 4,685 officers and is now budgeted for 7,629, a 63% increase, the CHP says.
Over those years, California’s population went from 19,394,000 to 39,593,000, federal and state officials say, a 104% boost.
And, of course, the miles the agency patrols has swelled a lot since ’68.
If anyone is upset there aren’t enough women and men in those nifty tan uniforms, which often come with the blue ties (motorcycle officers wear bow ties) and Smokey Bear hats, well, the beef is with the state Legislature and the governor, the overseers of the state budget.
A lot of police agencies have had trouble filling their ranks with qualified cops. But progress is being made at the CHP.
“The CHP’s current uniformed vacancy rate is less than 7% — the lowest it has been in more than a decade,” Jaime Coffee, a CHP spokesperson in Sacramento, in an email, so there are about 500 less officers than there is money for.
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“While motorists may not see a CHP officer during every trip, that should not be interpreted as an absence of enforcement,” she said. “Officers are strategically deployed based on traffic conditions, collision trends, calls for service and other public-safety needs. Much of their work also occurs outside a motorist’s immediate view. …
“CHP officers patrol more than 100,000 miles of roadway while responding to crashes, removing impaired and dangerous drivers, assisting stranded motorists, conducting investigations and handling calls for service around the clock,” she said.
Coffee added that the CHP has put 100 Dodge Durangos on the highways, which aren’t as easy to spot and try to pull over dangerous offenders, those who do what she called “video game-styled” driving.
HONKIN’ FACT: In the unincorporated stretches of Los Angeles County, more than 24,000 parking citations are handed out in an average month by the Parking Enforcement Detail, a division of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. More than 150 abandoned vehicles are towed away by the detail, and 130 stolen vehicles recovered. (Source: Sheriff’s Department)
To ask Honk questions, reach him at [email protected]. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk. Twitter: @OCRegisterHonk
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