‘Fix-It’ Ticket Demanding Surcharge Needs Correction

Dear Street Smart:

While parked on a street in Anaheim, my car (along with countless others) was ticketed for not having a front license plate. Shown on the citation is a $3 “county surcharge.” Please explain what a county surcharge is. No one I’ve spoken with has ever heard of it. And I was always under the impression that not having a front plate is a “fix-it” offense that does not carry a fine. Also, if my car had been parked in a lot, rather than on the street, would it have been ticketed?

V. Cowgill, Trabuco Canyon

Good news: You don’t have to pay the surcharge. It was apparently written on your citation in error, according to Sgt. Fred Roush of the Anaheim Police Department. Contact the department, and they’ll correct the ticket.

Surcharges are only levied against offenses that carry a fine, not against “fix-it” offenses, as you suspected. Courts set the surcharge for tickets in their jurisdictions, and the money goes to fund court buildings and jail facilities.

Those with fix-it violations should keep in mind that while they may not carry a fine, a police department may charge a small fee for pulling officers from their desks to verify that the violation has been corrected, Roush said. In Anaheim, this is $5.

You can blame the fee on tighter budgets. But there’s hope. If you catch an officer out in the field, he or she will probably have time to check off that ticket for you. And since you’re not pulling the officer away from other duties, there’s no charge.

Finally, no, officers would not have ticketed your car if it had been parked in a private lot. Most of the vehicle code is unenforceable on private property.

Dear Street Smart:

The intersection of El Toro Road and Avenida de la Carlota is poorly designed.

Motorists driving north on Carlota are only allotted one lane to continue straight through the intersection, while southbound motorists are allotted two lanes. During the morning rush, northbound Carlota traffic has to sit through two or even three signal changes before crossing El Toro.

This long delay encourages many impatient jerks to use the innermost right-turn-only lane to continue straight through the El Toro intersection.

How about another straight-ahead lane for Carlota, or, failing that, how about some law enforcement to nab the impatient jerks?

Mark Bixby, Mission Viejo

Ask and you shall receive.

We took your complaint to Steven Hogan, the county’s transportation division manager. For starters, he noted that the intersection in question is “one of the worst we have” in county territory.

Avenida de la Carlota was laid out years ago, when there was little need for more than one lane. At that time, the big requirement, said Hogan, was right-turn lanes to help funnel the hordes of traffic trying to get to Interstate 5 from the Laguna Hills Mall, which abuts Avenida de la Carlota.

In the years since, the pattern of traffic flow has shifted. Many people from Aliso Viejo and Laguna Hills scrupulously avoid the El Toro Road freeway on-ramps, so they use Avenida de la Carlota to cut north and get on Interstate 5 from slightly more manageable Lake Forest Drive. The result is additional pressure from through traffic.

County officials had a work crew study the situation. The result? They determined that Mark Bixby was exactly right. Avenida de la Carlota should be altered so that the middle right-turn lane becomes a through lane.

“Things have changed out there, and we appreciate the suggestion,” Hogan said. “Not that many people were using the middle turn lane--and the people who want to go straight through were being increasingly penalized.”

The change, which will require simply sandblasting off the existing lane arrows and painting on new ones, should come sometime in the next few months.

Dear Street Smart:

At many main intersections, a row of cars stacks up within the bicycle lane to turn right. This forces cars in right-turn lanes to swing out farther to make their turns. I see this most often on the southbound side of Muirlands Boulevard, just before Lake Forest Drive.

Isn’t this illegal? Is it illegal for motorcyclists to use the bicycle lane? What is the penalty for doing this? I am certain this endangers bicyclists who use the lane.

This situation has become one of my pet peeves. I often feel like a self-righteous idiot sitting in line to make my right turn along with the through traffic while several other cars zip by me in the bicycle lane. What do the California Highway Patrol and other traffic authorities recommend be done about this situation?

Jim Tsutsui Jr., Laguna Hills

At the intersection you mention, there is no right-turn-only lane, according Ignacio Ochoa, the county traffic engineer. In that case, you should use the bicycle lane to make your turn. This is completely legal--cars may cross into the lane 200 feet before an intersection.

On the other hand, if there is a right-turn-only lane at an intersection, by no means should cars also be using the bicycle lane to make a turn.

Ochoa suggested two things that you can do if an intersection is plagued by motorists crossing into the bicycle lane too early: First, contact the local traffic department. They can determine whether signs, striping or other physical modifications could solve the problem.

If that fails, then contact the local law enforcement agency, assuming the the local traffic department has not already done so. Some spot enforcement might clear the problem right up.

You’ll usually know it’s legal to cross into a bicycle lane at an intersection because the solid line becomes a broken line. Those who cross too early can face a $70 fine. And motorcycles, though two-wheeled, are barred from the lane.