Stop us before we drive the 405...

Stop us before we drive the 405 again: A driver’s license with a no-freeways restriction?

The subject came up after DMV Director Frank Zolin told the Orange County Register that the agency might consider excusing applicants from the newly required freeway driving test if they promise to stick to surface streets.

It’s been a hot topic on KFI radio this week. “Some listeners thought the wimps should get on the freeway,” said John Kobylt of “The John and Ken Show.” “Others thought if people don’t want to go on the freeway, it’s better for the rest of us that they don’t.”

The problem is, there is no such option. “It’s all a misunderstanding,” groaned DMV spokesman Bill Madison.

Madison said that when Zolin spoke to the Register he “hadn’t had a chance to talk” with his subordinates, who had turned thumbs down on the proposal. Madison added that exceptions will be made only for some impaired or elderly drivers.

Not for your average first-time applicant.

“You can imagine how many teen-agers might tell us: ‘I’m not going to drive on the freeway’ or ‘I’m scared to death of the freeway,’ ” Madison said. “There’s no way any teen-ager in California could avoid the freeways.”

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More proof that time flies: Kenneth Tervalon, who observed our accompanying sign on Pico Boulevard, said: “It seems to me that the craftsman who makes these tables either works very fast or uses really old wood.” (see photo).

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List of the day: Adding to our list of celebrities who have sites named after them, B.J. Bandy of Agoura Hills, Jerry Cowle of Pacific Palisades and others submitted more examples, including:

--Cary Grant Pavilion, Hollywood Park

--Michael Landon Community Center, Malibu

--Hackett Avenue, Lakewood (named for Buddy Hackett)

--Steve Martin Gallery, L.A. County Museum of Art (through which he roller-skated in his movie “L.A. Story”)

--Leo Carrillo State Beach, L.A. County

--Sidney Sheldon Gallery, L.A. County Museum of Art

--Harold Lloyd Motion Picture Sound Stage, USC

And, of course, the Doonesbury legend who is immortalized at the Zonker Harris Coastal Access walkway in Malibu.

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Compu-revenge: A few weeks ago we wrote a 1,000-word diatribe about computers and other electronic wonders, headlined “Stop the Techno-Train! I Wanna Get Off,” for a special section of The Times.

We just received a letter from the Southern California On-Line Directory. Expecting an angry reply, we instead were greeted with this opening: “The On-Line Directory is a periodic guide for Southern California electronic bulletin board service users . . . “ etc. etc.

In other words, our name has been ensnared in the computer industry’s address bank.

MiscelLAny:

UCLA Magazine reports that in a recent student book-collection competition on campus, Russell Palarea entered “Murder 101: A Complete Archive of Serial and Mass Murder.” Palarea’s collection, the publication adds, “was, well, killed by the judges.”