Q. I’ve seen a few pickups – such as a Silverado, a F-150, etc. – with non-commercial license plates. They have the standard-issue sequence cars get: a number, three letters, and then three more numbers. I thought the Department of Motor Vehicles required all pickups to have commercial plates of five numbers, a letter, and another number. Thanks for your always insightful columns.
– Jim Thomson, Huntington Beach
A. First, Jim, thanks for the kind words.
Honk is, of course, brilliant, so he knows what is the key to his success: the great questions from readers. Thanks, all.
Now back to business. …
The owners of what the DMV considers commercial vehicles can get personalized, what some refer to as vanity, plates. Further, there are some exemptions when these vehicles, including pickups, can get the standard-issue sequences most cars carry.
A fact that won’t surprised anyone: The state wants its money, so affected truck owners who get personalized plates must still pay the weight fees.
“If the truck is registered as a commercial vehicle, the owner must pay weight fees, regardless if they have personalized plates or not,” Angelica De La Peña, a DMV spokeswoman, explained to Honk in an email.
Even pickup trucks used only for hot dates and to pick up a copy of Honk at the local gas station usually must have commercial plates. Under state law, the weight fee is based on what the truck was designed for, not on how it is used.
However, a permanently attached camper shell might allow an owner to get a waiver – with that vehicle getting non-commercial plates – and, more importantly, no weight fee. Many trucks carrying disabled-person plates can get a pass on the weight fee as well.
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Q. Dear Honk: Is there any thought about those who are working on the highways around the Orange Crush to turn the street lights and sign lights back on? The lights have been out for months: on the 5, 22 and the 57 freeways and even on the overpasses. It is hard to read the road signs and, at times, hard to see the lines on the road. I really think the drivers deserve to have the lights back on.
– Lynn Fenton, Santa Ana
A. As Orange County commuters know, the Orange Crush is where those freeways meet and tranquility goes to die and congestion can thrive. Coming clean, Honk had a fender-bender there years ago, which was clearly his fault. Still, he disliked that interchange long before that day – and to this day.
Yes, Lynn, good lighting there is important.
But thieves just don’t care.
“This is an area with an extremely high level of wire theft,” Sheilah Fortenberry, a Caltrans spokeswoman, told Honk.
Such stolen scrap copper wire or piping are likely sold off, even though state laws were passed making it illegal for junk dealers or recyclers to take in the stolen stuff, and the thieves can be made to pay for repairs. In 2013, a man was killed while tampering with wires at a closed Anaheim hotel; two years prior, a man trying to steal wire in Huntington Beach from a Southern California Edison circuit was killed as well.
Beginning in spring 2020, thieves have consistently taken copper wire from the electrical boxes at the Orange Crush, Fortenberry passed along. A permanent solution has been slowed down, in part, because Caltrans made one repair after another and is now going to add security measures to try and thwart future thefts. Further, Caltrans needed more materials than were readily available.
Some repairs were recently completed and other fixes are coming. Currently, there is not a time frame for when all of the lights will be back on.
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. Twitter: @OCRegisterHonk