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Everything we could think of that you might want to know about the new hands-free cell phone law that kicked in at midnight -- what to do, how it'll be enforced, will it work, a Q&A with a CHP officer, solutions car makers have come up with, and what else lawmakers have in store for your driving pleasure (hint: regulations about man's best friend) -- is all right here.
Meanwhile, here's Dan Neil with a little demonstration of legal behind-the-wheel behavior.
--Veronique de Turenne
No hands on the cell phone come July 1? No problem. Plenty of crazy and dangerous behavior is still legal behind the wheel, as our own car guru, Dan Neil, demonstrates. Admit it -- you've seen most of this stuff (and done some of it) on our local freeways.
-- Veronique de Turenne
Video: Jeff Amlotte & Dan Neil
 If you are planning to buy a headset or hands-free Bluetooth device for your cellphone, it might be a good idea to call ahead before you drive to the store. Some Southern California retailers report high demand and low supplies as phone users prepare for a state law that makes it illegal to talk on a handheld phone while driving, beginning July 1.
The wireless earpieces cost from $20 to $80. But the fine in addition to related court fees and other penalties could set back offenders more than $90 for the first violation and more than $200 for subsequent offenses, according to the Daily News.
Many cellphone users maybe grumbling about the expense of complying with the law. But retailers like cellphone store manager Vlad Riftin of Van Nuys are not complaining: "I just gotta thank the cops for the sales. That's all I have to say."
-- Jesus Sanchez
Photo: Beatrice de Gea / Los Angeles Times
Not sure if Hollywood Ford is trying to persuade potential customers that it'll be easy to get a bargain because the dealership's not exactly bright, but whoever is printing their signs should probably step away from the machine and let a 5th-grader take over.
"When ever"? "Turck"? "Electricfying"?
Is 0% really the interest rate, or the likelihood that anyone proofread these signs on Hollywood Boulevard?
-- Tony Pierce
Photo: Tony Pierce / Los Angeles Times
 When a mechanic from Half Moon Bay fueled his cars and trucks with used fryer grease, he got slammed with so many rules, regulations and taxes, he had to give up on his environmentally friendly venture and go back to Big Oil. Evan Halper has the maddening details:
The government rang to notify [Dave] Eck that he was a tax cheat. He was scolded for failing to get a "diesel fuel supplier's license," reporting quarterly how many gallons of grease he burns, and paying a tax on each gallon.
(skip)
He can also get in trouble for carting kitchen grease away from eateries without a license from the state Meat and Poultry Inspection Branch.
Or for not having at least $1 million in liability insurance, in case he spills some of the stuff. Or for not getting permission from the state Air Resources Board to burn fat in the first place.
The regulations are so burdensome that even Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, trying to set an example for Californians by driving a Hummer that burns cooking oil he buys at Costco, had not complied.
Grab your blood-pressure meds and read the rest of the story about why it's almost impossible to (legally) make your own biodiesel in California.
-- Veronique de Turenne
Photo: EPA
One thing we can agree on about the Olympic/Pico one-way traffic plan: It's hard to get anyone to agree. About anything. Is it the answer to the Westside's gridlock woes? The death knell to a neighborhood? As of yesterday, the whole issue's quite probably delayed. Steve Hymon, our traffic guru, has details: A judge issued a tentative ruling Tuesday that the city must do a thorough environmental study before turning Olympic and Pico boulevards on the Westside into virtual one-way streets.
The two-page ruling by Superior Court Judge John Torribio sets the stage for a hearing today in Norwalk where oral arguments will be heard. A business group and a homeowners group have each filed lawsuits over the proposed project.
The controversial plan is being pushed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Councilman Jack Weiss. The project would initially change the signal timing so that eastbound traffic on Pico and westbound on Olympic are given speedier commutes. Some street parking also would be removed to add a lane of traffic during rush hour.
The city has argued that the modifications to roads and traffic operations are exempt from more study under the California Environmental Quality Act. Torribio ruled otherwise, writing, "The very purpose of the project is to expand the use of the existing streets."
More -- we're betting lots more -- on this to come.
* Updated 3:48 p.m. A judge took no action this afternoon on whether the one-way street plan needs an environmental study. A ruling is expected Friday and the judge ordered that the city do no
work on the project until noon Monday.
--Veronique de Turenne
Photo: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
Thousands of Californians whose health insurance was canceled by the state's top five companies get a chance to win it back. Lisa Girion and Marc Lifsher explain what happened.
The battle of the billboards continues - now a billboard district in Koreatown goes to a vote in the City Council. David Zahniser has the details.
A state audit finds child molesters living at child-care facilities and foster homes. LAT
U.S. Atty. Thomas P. O'Brien has goals for his office, but his colleagues are calling them quotas. Scott Glover explains.
Google profits up 30%, says Jessica Guynn.
Big change in store for the Long Beach Grand Prix this Sunday. Full story from Jim Peltz.
 How were they? Mary J. Blige and Jay-Z took over the Hollywood Bowl, and Richard Cromelin was there.
A 5.4 earthquake...in Illinois. Chicago Trib via LAT.
A battle over a local bio-fuel company in Silver Lake turns into a "huge hipster soap opera." Susannah Rosenblatt has the story.
--Veronique de Turenne
 Seems officials in Beverly Hills are going to throw their weight behind a bill in the state Legislature to allow the use of cameras to catch cars breaking the speed limit, our traffic guru, Steve Hymon, reports. The bill would:
...create a pilot program allowing a marked mobile unit to set up only in school or residential neighborhoods where the speed limit is 25 mph or less. Signs would be posted to warn drivers that cameras were present, Hines said, and officers would oversee the cameras and inspect the photos before mailing them to vehicle owners with citations attached.
The cameras have been a success in other states, but visions of Big Brother have kept the program from getting off the ground here in California. And then there's the story about the guy who was caught by a camera going 147 mph because, as he later told police, he was late for work.
All the details in Steve's full story here.
-- Veronique de Turenne
Photo: Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times
 Josh Englander's work duties today: Go have a drink. Make it a double. In fact, get drunk enough that you shouldn't drive. Strange marching orders, considering he's a deputy for Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles). Our traffic guru, Steve Hymon, explains:
Englander was a prop in a news conference in Los Angeles for a bill that would require first-time DUI offenders to install ignition lock devices in their cars. That's right -- get caught drinking and driving and you'll have to pay $500 for the device, which locks up a car when a driver's alcohol level hits 0.03 or above.
"We're sick and tired of the vehicular carnage plauging the streets of California," said Assemblyman Todd Spitzer (R-Orange). He should know: A former chief of staff, Steven Ambriz, was killed at 35 by a drunk driver in 2006. According to Spitzer and Feuer, one-third of first-time DUI offenders get caught drinking and driving again.
Turns out the American Beverage Institute is fighting the bill, saying lawmakers should concentrate on repeat offenders. The latest federal statistics, from 2006 show that 1,779 of 4,236 road deaths in California that year were alcohol related.
We're assuming a designated driver gave Englander a ride home.
--Veronique de Turenne
Photo: Steve Hymon / Los Angeles Times
ABC's Bob Woodruff received the Daniel Pearl Award from the L.A. Press Club. LADN
It was inevitable, no? Top Chef, the cookbook. LAT
Ramon C. Cortines, approved yesterday as LAUSD's No. 2 honcho, cuts his own pay. The Home Room
The O.C. leads the nation in job losses during third quarter. OC Reg
Classic car thefts on the rise. Mean Streets
What would you do? Two men return $140,000 found on a Cerritos street. Daily Breeze
L.A. County supervisors delay final vote on new taco truck rules. SGV Tribune LAT
No survivors found in small-plane crash near Big Bear. Press Enterprise
Election day results from El Segundo, Lancaster, Long Beach, Sierra Madre, Walnut, Whittier
Veronique de Turenne & Jesus Sanchez
 Ever had a parking ticket? (Or three or four...) Then you're not behind the wheel of one of the nearly 1 million lucky cars or trucks or motorcycles whose license plates put their drivers above the law, the OC Reg reports.
The plates belong to registered drivers who are part of a state program that hides their addresses on DMV records. Designed 30 years ago to protect cops from criminals, it's been expanded to include 1,800 agencies and 996,716 vehicles. Some of the perks, according the story in the Register: •Vehicles with protected license plates can run through dozens of intersections controlled by red light cameras and breeze along the 91 toll lanes with impunity.
•Parking citations issued to vehicles with protected plates are often dismissed because the process necessary to pierce the shield is too cumbersome.
•Some patrol officers let drivers with protected plates off with a warning because the plates signal that the drivers are "one of their own" or related to someone who is.
So who's protected? Police, of course, but also dispatchers and museum guards. And their spouses and families. This despite the fact that DMV info is confidential.
You can read the rest of the OC Register's story here.
-- Veronique de Turenne
Photo: Los Angeles Times
 The pious among Prius owners seem to gloat as they drive solo in the carpool lane or park without having to feed the meter in many cities. But are these perks for the owners of fuel-efficient Prius and other hybrid cars coming to an end?
After initially giving hybrid vehicle owners another three years of free parking at city metered spaces, the Los Angeles City Council decided to study whether to eliminate the benefit as part of an effort to close a possible $500-million budget deficit, reports the Daily News.
The city loses about $116,000 a year in meter money that would have been paid by hybrid car owners. That would do little to close the budget gap but every little bit counts, said Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who proposed scrapping the free-parking perk. "This was a great incentive when we first did it," Rosendahl said. "But hybrids don't need assistance from us. They already are getting a benefit from the savings they get by not having to buy $4-a-gallon gas."
Solo hybrid drivers might also get pushed out of the the carpool lanes under one of several options state officials were studying last year to cut down on HOV lane congestion. Like free metered parking, allowing hybrid car owners to drive alone in the carpool lane was viewed as incentive to encourage alternative, fuel-efficient vehicles.
Now, with the rollout of hybrid SUVs getting less gas mileage than some gasoline-powered cars, support seems to be weakening for such perks, even among the vehicles' advocates. Felix Kramer, founder of CalCars.org, said he would rather see tax breaks to encourage fuel efficient, low-emission cars. "Free parking spots for hybrids doesn't really address any problem directly," Kramer said. "It just provides a freebie for people who have high-mpg cars."
-- Jesus Sanchez
Photo: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times
 Southern Californians may love their cars but they hate to pay to park them. Paying to park them in a giant parking garage is even more annoying. So, imagine the frustration of the blogger behind Son Mis Locuras, who not only had to deal with a downtown parking garage but then could not get out after celebrating a friend's birthday:
I asked the security guys to open the gate. They said they would and shortly thereafter the gate opened at the top of the ramp. What they didn’t do was raise the wooden arm that blocked the exit lane that led to the security gate.
I figured my instructions needed to be more explicit, so I left my car and walked back up to the security guard. "Hey, you forgot to raise the arm." "Uh, well, ma’am, we can’t find the key," the security guard informed me. "Someone took it."
"How do you expect us to get out," I asked. He shrugged. I called the building’s management company. They’re closed until Monday. I called the emergency number—it referred me to the security guard who shrugged.
Read P2 Karma to find out how she got out.
-- Jesus Sanchez
Photo: Alexander Gallardo / Los Angeles Times
 These are busy times for the Repo Man. Growing numbers of car and truck owners are losing their vehicles as jobs become harder to find and many face higher mortgage payments on adjustable, subprime home loans, reports the Riverside Press-Enterprise. One auto auction company says that the repossessions it handles are up 15% from last year. Not helping matters is that many cars now come fully loaded -- with debt.
Many car owners decide they would rather keep their house than their vehicle, said Tom Kontos, who works for an auto auction company. "There are cases where people say the lesser of the two evils is [to default on] the car."
The number of repossessed autos has grown as Americans have taken on huge amounts of auto loans, in many cases combining unpaid car debt with a new car loan. The result: more than a quarter of cars traded in have "negative equity," or the debt exceeds the vehicle's value. An L.A. Times story last December by Ken Bensinger found that nearly 45% of consumer auto loans are written for longer than six years and the average loan amount has topped $30,000, up nearly 40% in the last decade.
Along with more jobs for repo men and women, the rise in car and truck repossession is also likely to trigger more demand for the On Time car device, says USA Today. Made by a Murietta company, the On Time flashes a light when a car payment is due. If the owner fails to make a payment, On Time won't let the car start.
-- Jesus Sanchez
Photo: Associated Press
 It's taken about 20 years, but California motorists are finally reaping the benefits of Prop. 103.
California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has ordered Allstate Insurance to cut its automobile rates by 15.9%. That adds up to about $133 per car a year in savings, reports Marc Lifsher. The reduction is the latest by an auto insurer since mid-2006 after the industry lost a lengthy legal battle against Prop 103. The initiative forced insurers to base their rates primarily on a person’s driving record, number of years behind the wheel and total miles driven annually. "It was very clear that they were charging too much," said Douglas Heller, the Executive Director of the Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, the group that successfully passed Proposition 103 in 1988.
Heller expects more rate reductions ahead. But Allstate, which proposed a much smaller reduction, said it is considering its legal options.
-- Jesus Sanchez
Photo: Getty Images
 Lowrider cars and culture have long been celebrated in shows, publications and even museums. But is America ready for lowrider TV?
Find out by tonight by watching the most recent episode of "Livin' the Low Life" on the Speed cable channel. The show has caught the attention of many of Southern California's lowriding enthusiasts and a variety of blogs, including LA Taco. Tonight's episode is devoted to the Ruelas family, founders of the legendary So Cal Dukes car club. The show's host, Vida Guerra, and crew have been spotted around town taping segments at auto body and paint shops, including Danny D's (pictured) in Baldwin Park.
The lowrider lifestyle has been "underserved" on TV, said Speed programming vice president Robert Ecker. But now with lowriders on the tube and ready to be consumed by a mass audience, what other car-crazy subcultures are left to discover? I know. Click here.
--Jesus Sanchez
Photo: Jae Bueno via LA Taco
More sad news: Boyd Coddington, whose amazing autos earned him the title "The Stradivarius of car-building," died Wednesday of complications after a recent surgery.
Here's the "Fire Roadster," which Coddington fabricated for Michael Anthony, the bassist for Van Halen. It was designed by Brad Fanshaw, who also created that purple guitar stuck to the car's side.
Remembrances of Boyd Coddington at Edmunds blog. A collection of his cars at the Petersen Automotive Museum.
--Veronique de Turenne
Details of the Southern California icon's remarkable life from Dennis McLellen.
--Photo - Scott Williamson
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Veronique de Turenne
Veronique de Turenne is a journalist, essayist, book critic and blogger, and has been a staff writer at virtually every newspaper in Southern California. One of the highlights of her career was interviewing Vin Scully in his broadcast booth at Dodger Stadium, then receiving a handwritten thank you note from him a week later. She lives in Malibu.
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