Some trucks need the company name on the side, others don’t
Q. In Los Angeles County, a friend of mine who is a contractor received a ticket for not having his company name on his truck. Is that right?
– Gloria Rankin, Huntington Beach
A. Maybe.
Trucking laws are quite complex, so Honk spent enough time on the phone with expert Ron Mack to raise a redwood from seedling to the size of the Gen. Sherman Tree up north.
Many commercial trucks weighing 10,001 or more pounds – the weight of the tractor, the trailer, the load and even the driver – must have three identifiers on the sides: company name, a number assigned by the state or the federal government, and the gross-vehicle weight rating.
Makes it easier for the authorities to ensure the truckers are following the law.
Those identifiers aren’t just for semis – a tractor and empty trailer might weigh about 32,000 pounds, figured Mack, an Orange County-based motor carrier specialist with the California Highway Patrol.
But does a landscaper or construction worker in a small pickup need the identifiers?
No.
Might a cop who isn’t quite up on the law see pool equipment in the back of an aging Datsun and cite the driver for not having the company name on the side?
Sure.
There are smaller vehicles that do need an identifier, though. Limos, for example, need a Public Utilities Commission number on the exterior.
Gloria, pass this special CHP number along to your friend to get specifics: 858-650-3655.
Q. Honk: The other day I was driving on the I-105, and a Los Angeles County sheriff’s car was driving past me in the carpool with just the deputy in the car. No flashing lights, no siren, and he was seemingly just on a drive. I know if I were to do that, it’d be an almost $500 ticket. Do they have the leeway to use the carpool lane solo for just normal driving?
– Jason Fine, Mission Viejo
A. No.
We’ve all seen it: A cop driving in some fashion that gets us thinking, “I don’t think that is right, but maybe it is OK … because he is after a bad guy?”
If the officer is indeed in pursuit of a criminal, responding to an emergency call or driving in the carpool lane because it increases his view of some traffic-law offender, then he or she is exempt from the law.
Otherwise, officers should be observing the California Vehicle Code in the HOV lanes like the rest of us.
Does Honk think offending officers get cited very often?
Absolutely not.
To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk.