If you drive while using a cell phone, your day of reckoning may be Tuesday. On Tuesday and again on Wednesday, Aug. 18, the CHP and police agencies around the state, including at least several in Sonoma County, plan a crackdown on drivers who ignore the hands-free law and use [...]
You're driving along and suddenly you notice that the driver in the car next to you has a dog on his/her lap. Is that safe? Is that legal? "Right now, it is not illegal to have a pet in your lap," CHP Officer Jon Sloat said. "It certainly is not [...]
We asked the CHP to list what it considers the most dangerous roads that it patrols in Sonoma County. Basing his answer on the number of serious collisions, the spokesman for the local CHP office, Officer Jon Sloat, cited: --Mark West Springs Road, which racked up 634 crashes [...]
Earlier this week, we discussed the conflict between bicyclists and drivers, and the local spokesman for the CHP said he tentatively was interpreting the state vehicle code to mean cyclists could ride two abreast or more as long as they didn't impede traffic. But he was checking with Sacramento CHP [...]
About 700 athletes on Saturday are expected to swim, ride and run a total of 140.4 miles through western and northern parts of Sonoma County, and that will mean traffic delays on numerous roads. Numerous intersections will have CHP officers and Sonoma County sheriff's deputies and explorers on duty to [...]
Robert Babbe of Rohnert Park recently was driving down Highway 101 from his job in Cloverdale when small rocks began pelting his car near Windsor. Four days later, the same thing happened. He said the rocks, some the size of baseballs, both times came from construction trucks going to the [...]
"Hating bikes," "Raging at cyclist," "Share the road" -- all headlines on recent letters to the editor about the continuing conflict between drivers and bicyclists in Sonoma County. "Cyclists have every right to share the road," and drivers need to realize that, CHP Officer Jon Sloat said. But bicyclists cannot [...]
Here's a question from a reader and an answer from CHP Officer Jon Sloat: THE QUESTION: I live near a four-way stop at a flat location with good visibility of other cars approaching the stop. I’ve noticed that cars will stop a fair distance behind the stop line (I’m talking [...]
There's confusion over when a driver can proceed through a crosswalk after a pedestrian has crossed by. Do you have to wait until the pedestrian is all of the way across and on the sidewalk? Or can you drive on when the pedestrian is no longer at risk from being [...]
Whether you get a ticket when you get pulled over may all come down to your attitude. "Recently, I stopped a guy who was in the middle of an intersection" after failing to stop soon enough for a stop sign, CHP Officer Jon Sloat said. "I was talking to him [...]