75-Cent Toll for 1-Mile Trip Is Too Steep, Motorist Says

Dear Street Smart:

I was royally ripped off by the Foothill Corridor a couple of weeks ago, and I’m sure that many others are being snared by this costly trap also.

The problem occurs at the northbound access from Alton Parkway. There are no signs along this onramp warning of an exorbitant fee of 75 cents due just a mile ahead, when the tollway ends. If there were such a sign, I’ll bet many motorists wouldn’t venture down that road into the trap.

On the southbound side, however, a huge sign announces a “50-cent fee ahead” and one can proceed four miles at that rate, all the way to Santa Margarita Boulevard.

Seventy-five cents for one mile, versus 50 cents for four miles? This in grossly unfair! I was expecting to pay 25 cents for my one-mile excursion to the end of the tollway. How can I get a 50-cent refund?

Rick Potter

Rancho Santa Margarita

You can forget about the refund, according to Lisa Telles, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Corridor Agencies, which operates the toll road. But the agency will look into your claim that there is not enough warning of the 75-cent toll.

“Signs have been added or changed because of people’s comments in the past,” Telles said. “The toll-road concept is new to Southern California, and the signs are evolving. We will review this and make a recommendation.”

As for the seemingly unequal price structure, she said, it is based “not on the distance traveled, but on the value of the trip.” Thus while northbound travelers avoid lots of street lights and the El Toro Y, southbound drivers don’t save as much time. By that logic, Telles said, the northerly route has a “higher value” and, therefore, a higher fare.

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Dear Street Smart:

I ride my bike regularly on Santiago Canyon Road on weekends. It seems every Harley-Davidson rider in Orange County rides the road on the way to Cook’s Corner. The problem is that 95% of them do not have mufflers on their bikes.

While I know that cars and trucks will get pulled over for noise pollution, it doesn’t appear that the CHP enforces the same rules for motorcycles. Are motorcycles exempt from the decibel emission rules that apply to cars?

Mike Burns

Yorba Linda

Decidedly not, according to Steve Kohler, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol. The state vehicle code, he said, requires at least two things of motorcycles: that they be equipped with adequate working mufflers, and that they emit no more than 86 decibels of sound.

In reality, of course, enforcement isn’t always as diligent as it could be, Kohler admitted.

“I think it’s something we pay attention to,” he said, “but you have to look at it in the context of everything else we pay attention to. The first things we are going to try to accomplish is stopping the kinds of activities that pose a risk to other motorists, such as driving under the influence, hazardous driving, reckless driving and speeding. If I’ve got a choice between stopping someone on a noisy bike or stopping someone who is cutting people off in their lanes, obviously I’m going to go after the reckless driver.”

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Dear Street Smart:

If a car with an expired registration is involved in an accident, what are the legal ramifications? Regardless of who is at fault, isn’t the car with the expired registration illegally on the road?

Raymond A. Panici

Mission Viejo

Yes, the car is illegally on the road and, no, there are no additional legal ramifications if it is in an accident.

“What happens to the car at that point depends on local law enforcement,” said William Madison, a spokesman for the Department of Motor Vehicles. “They can tow and impound the vehicle and they can, and probably will, cite its owner for driving an unregistered car.”

But a car’s legal status has no bearing on its driver’s liability in an accident. “If the other driver caused the accident,” Madison said, “the other driver could still be liable.”

Liability and its legal and financial consequences, he said, are determined by local law enforcement agencies, courts and insurance companies--none of which the DMV controls.

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Street Smart appears Mondays in The Times Orange County Edition. Readers are invited to submit comments and questions about traffic, commuting and what makes it difficult to get around in Orange County. Include simple sketches if helpful. Letters may be published in upcoming columns. Please write to David Haldane, c/o Street Smart, The Times Orange County, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, send faxes to (714) 966-7711 or e-mail him David.H[email protected]. Include your full name, address and day and evening phone numbers. Letters may be edited, and no anonymous letters will be accepted.