Q: A friend recently received a ticket for cell phone use after pulling into an alley and stopping to take a call. The officer stated that you must be pulled completely off the road with your car in park and engine off. Because she still had her engine running and was not completely pulled to the curb, she was in violation. True?

A: CHP Officer Jon Sloat said that for cell phone use, “as long as you are legally parked, it doesn’t matter if the engine is running or not. The law reads, ‘while driving.’ You could not pull over on the side of 101 because that violates another law — emergency stop only on freeway.” In regards to the alley parker, he said if she was legally parked, she should not have been ticketed.

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Q: I’ve noticed some new poles with a camera and solar attached to them on 101 between Santa Rosa and Healdsburg some months ago; wondering what they will be used for?

A: Caltrans spokesman Robert Haus said they’re helping to measure traffic on 101. He said sensors had been embedded in the road to measure the number of cars passing by and their average speed. That information is transmitted to the data box, which looks like a camera but is not, on the pole and then transmitted via microwave to a Caltrans office in Oakland. The solar panel powers the data box and transmission. Haus said the data allows Caltrans officials in Oakland to monitor traffic problems.

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Q: The New York Times recently reported a scarcity of road-striping paint across the country. How about here?

A: Caltrans has plenty of white and yellow paint, Haus said, so no problem.

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If you have a question regarding traffic issues, road construction or such, please send it to jim.fremgen@pressdemocrat.com and put Road Warrior in the subject line.