Q: Hi Honk: I just read your column about the old ’84 Olympic plate and how those few folks who still have them can continue to renew them, but they cannot get them replaced if damaged. I was wondering if the same goes for any vanity plate that the DMV discontinues? For instance, I have a Snoopy plate that I love, but I have worried that someday they will stop offering it as an option. At that time, will I be able to keep my plate indefinitely and just hope it never gets damaged?
– Kris Straziuso, Lake Forest
A: Yes.
“If a plate has been discontinued or the design has changed, the existing plates will remain valid as long as they are renewed annually,” Geovana Herrera, a Department of Motor Vehicles spokesperson, told Honk in an email. “However, discontinued plates cannot be replaced if they are lost, stolen or damaged.”
As long as the plate is still offered, though – and those with the world’s favorite beagle still are – you can ask for replacements.
To see which Special Interest License Plates are current, Google that title and you should end up on the Department of Motor Vehicles’ web page that shows them.
If Honk learns that one of these plate styles is going to be retired, he will alert those in Honkland in case anyone wants to make a quick purchase or get dented Snoopy, whale’s tail, firefighters or other specialty plates replaced.
Q: Why the delay in removing the K-rails along the center divider from Oso Parkway to El Toro Road on the 5 Freeway in south Orange County? The concrete work is done, why the delay in removing? Commuters are sick and tired of the morning commute in bumper-to-bumper traffic!!
– Andy O’Connor, Lake Forest
A: Kinda like looking at a hotel pool on a sweltering day, but you can’t just jump in because of a business meeting, right?
“We’re nearing the finish line, but the weather is putting up a few roadblocks,” Joel Zlotnik, a spokesman for the Orange County Transportation Authority, told Honk in an email. “The reader is correct, the concrete work is finished. The K-rail has been removed from the southbound side of the freeway, and the northbound side was scheduled to be removed this week.
“However, with the rain, the K-rail removal on the northbound side is now set to be done next week and likely will go into the following week because of the (Presidents’ Day) holiday. Once the K-rail is removed, crews need to add the final striping, which will take approximately a week or two – depending on the weather.
“So if all goes as planned, the extended second carpool lane will be open to traffic in early March.”
The work is part of the transit agency’s 6.5-mile, $664 million upgrade of the 5, work that began in 2019. Among the improvements: a new regular lane between Avery and Alicia parkways, that carpool-lane extension and other stuff.
So all of the new lanes will be open by early March, pending weather.
HONKIN’ FACT: Over the year ending on Nov. 30, autonomous vehicles traveled 4.5 million miles on public highways in California under state permits, according to the DMV. For 552,895 of those miles, there was no driver in the vehicle, said Chris Orrock, a DMV spokesman. There are 31 companies allowed to test with a safety driver in the state on public highways, while six can test without a driver.
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. To see him on the social media platform X: @OCRegisterHonk