65 tickets given in traffic crackdown in Seal Beach area

Officers handed out 65 traffic tickets on Pacific Coast Highway and nearby Seal Beach roadways on Saturday, May 9 as part of the latest enforcement operation cracking down on dangerous and discourteous drivers during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The joint operation between the Seal Beach Police Department and the California Highway Patrol’s Westminster office resulted in 65 citations, including tickets issued for speeding, load exhausts, expired registrations, driving without a license, ignoring stop signs and other violations, according to a police statement.

The operation resulted from resident complaints about drivers speeding, using roaring and modified exhausts and failing to yield for pedestrians, police said.

“Diligent traffic enforcement is one of the best ways to reduce serious traffic accidents,” Seal Beach Police Chief Philip Gonshak said. “In order to keep our roadways safe, it is important that our officers contact motorists who drive dangerously and with little regard for the safety of others.”

As the overall amount of traffic on freeways and local roadways has plummeted during the coronavirus stay-at-home orders, incidents of triple digit speeding has skyrocketed, according to CHP statistics. For coastal towns, that has meant motorists, particularly on weekends, speeding along PCH, including incidents involving drivers of supercars such as Lamborghinis and Ferraris speeding through south Orange County. In turn, that led to dozens of complaints by beach city residents.

A similar crackdown during the first weekend of the month in the Laguna Beach, Dana Point and Newport Beach areas resulted in tickets for 186 motorists, primarily for speeding or revved up exhausts. Police agencies have pledged to increase their general presence in those areas going forward.

The CHP in recent weeks has also cracked down on freeway speeders, including a four-hour operation on April 23 that led to more than 150 citations in Orange County.