How much of this roadway info did you already know?
This new year’s week, Honk is thankful for his readers, who are the smartest, prettiest, handsomest, funniest, most creative and happiest people, and the sharpest dressers, too. Because of their questions during the past year, he has learned:
(Second of two such columns this year, because readers have led us to such great tidbits.)
– U.S. Postal Service employees must follow the same rules of the road as the rest of us; they cannot, for example, park in red-curb zones. There is one exception: If not driving more than 500 feet, crossing an intersection or turning a corner, mail carriers can wear just a lap seat belt and not a shoulder one as well so they can quickly hop in and out of their trucks. …
– Mail carriers must pay any traffic tickets they get, because Uncle Sam won’t. …
– Motorists who witness a crash don’t need to provide ID or any contact info to a participant in the collision or even to an officer. …
– Speeds are indeed checked by aircraft, like those freeway signs say, but usually in less-populated areas such as along the I-8 Freeway in El Centro or Winterhaven (population 394 in 2010), because so much ground can be covered. A ground unit would be dispatched to hand over the citation. …
– Cops aren’t supposed to drive in car-pool lanes solo – except when on a motorcycle, in pursuit of a criminal, responding to an emergency, or using that vantage point to ferret out a traffic-law offender. Does Honk think this law is often violated? Of course. …
– A driver who intentionally blocks a motorcyclist from lane-splitting could get cited. …
– It is illegal for a motorcyclist to cross over a pair of white or yellow solid lanes, even when lane-spitting, just as it is for a car – unless doing so to avoid getting hit. …
– A reader pointed out that out-of-service public buses in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada flash “SORRY” in the electronic sign on the front of the bus before displaying “NOT IN SERVICE.” …
– In Anaheim, and probably in most California cities, it is legal for someone in a motorized wheelchair to cross a street while chatting on a phone. But in Montclair, pedestrians – which under the law includes those in wheelchairs or on skateboards or scooters – face $100 fines for crossing a street while on a call or staring at a cell phone. Cops and firefighters on phones for the purpose of their jobs are exempt. …
– Nor can pedestrians, while crossing Montclair streets, have both ears covered with earbuds or headphones. …
– The California Highway Patrol has a website that seeks the public’s help in lassoing California residents with vehicles donning out-of-state license plates to ensure fees and penalties are collected. But the CHP doesn’t have one to report those with expired California registration tags, because those violators are much easier to nab. …
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.