Out of Lane Violation; Commercial Drivers Beware of "The Grapevine"

CVC §22348(c)

I get a lot of tickets for commercial drivers that allege Out of Lane violations (CVC §22348(c)). I don't know if there are too many truckers who are just impatient and pass other trucks or slow moving cars when they shouldn't, or commercial drivers just don't know the lane restrictions in California. It's probably both. In a nutshell when there are more than two lanes a commercial driver must stay in the right two lanes, i.e., the 2 lanes closest to the right side of the road.

Note that when numbering the lanes Police officers and California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers count lanes from the the inside of the roadway. The fast lane is Lane #1 and the lanes are numbered consecutively from left to right. Many highways in California have four lanes and then where there is a steep roadway or pass, there are designated truck lanes to the far right that are 35 mph. Tuckers get nailed for both speed and out of lane in those areas.

The Grapevine

Three mountain passes in SoCal specifically are problematic - The Grapevine (Tejon pass), Cajon pass and the Cuesta pass. The first is the grade just South of Grapevine Road ("the Grapevine") on the I-5 between Los Angeles to Bakersfield.  That corridor has an inordinate amount of truck traffic and the economic impact of goods transported through there is immense. Lots of commerce starts at the LA harbor and moves up the 5 and through California to the rest of the country. Also, Much of that LA harbor commerce goes up the I-15 over the Cajon pass through Barstow and on to America. 

The CHP branch covering the Grapevine is at the bottom of the grade where there are new weight station facilities. I almost always see at least one patrol vehicle sitting at the top of the grade in Lebec, CA. They sit at the top and write a ticket going down the hill, turn around at Grapevine Road at the bottom, and write another ticket going up. Rinse and repeat... I drive that often in my personal car and see traffic stacked up as truck drivers who think its okay to drive in the 2 left lanes as the 35 mph in the designated truck lane is to painful for the trucks to bear. Particularly if they are running light or deadheading to another location. 

Lamont Courthouse

Tickets written on the Grapevine are assigned to the Lamont Courthouse. If you have to pause and scratch your head as to the location of that courthouse, you are not alone. It is off the beaten path. I don't know if that is extra punishment or some other judicial/law enforcement reasoning makes sense to adjudicate those tickets in Lamont. And if you don't know where you are going... call us and we will take care of it. 

From a business perspective, Its painful and costly to get a ticket. fines are hefty, there are points on your licens and insurance goes up. And it could be the final straw for your driving job.  Commercial drivers are losing revenue every moment they are in court. Getting to arraignment a couple of months after the ticket is a trick and then getting to trial a couple of months thereafter in addition to communicating with the court and scheduling hearing dates is not a truck drivers core business and does not make money. You don't have to have an MBA to understand that you need to have someone appear on your behalf. Give us a call.

Defenses to Out of Lane Tickets

The problem with Out of Lane tickets is that they are hard to defend. With speeding there is a device of some sort in the mix that measures speed (radar, Lidar and odometer when pacing).  There are expectations of error with those devices, they must be calibrated and there must be testimony to lay the foundation for the accuracy of those devices. With out of lane, its just the officers testimony and observations and generally there is no evidence to the contrary except the driver who says he didn't do it.  The court will always take the officer testimony over the driver, unless the officer is completely sideways in his/her testimony.

In addition to the usual technicalities that can trip up the officers, one of the few arguments is the total number of lanes in the area where the violation allegedly occurred. often the officer will attest to the driver in the number 2 lane and then forgets to say (number 2 out of a total of 4 lanes). I don't cross examine on that, I just leave it for argument. Without the total number of lanes, the officer can't say "beyond a reasonable" doubt that the driver was not in the 2 right hand lanes. The number 2 lane is lawful if there are 2 or 3 lanes of travel. I don't hear that often but I am listening for that and other technicalities. But these seem harder than others to defend. 

The Out of Lane violation is often caught on video. MVARS that saves recordings 20 or 30 seconds before the officer hits his siren and lights and then proceeds to save video thereafter. If the officer hit his lights while you were still in the wrong lane, that's on video. We often will request discovery, which causes problems for the prosecution, but we generally don't show MVARS or request such video as it generally is a losing proposition.  

We go to Lamont on a regular basis and handle many tickets. You need to know the judge and the officers to really get the best result. And it doesn't hurt, to know the law and the twists and turns involved in different vehicle code violations. There are also potential alternative outcomes that can be helpful. Give us a call and we will provide a free consultation...  talk to you soon.