Chino council raises administrative fines for truck‑route violations amid resident safety concerns

Chino’s City Council approved an amendment to the municipal fine schedule on Feb. 3 to raise administrative penalties for commercial vehicles found traveling off designated truck routes, citing repeat violations and residential safety concerns. The motion passed 4 yes, 1 absent.

City Attorney Fred Galente presented the change, which would raise the first‑offense administrative fine from $250 to $500 and the second offense from $500 to $750 while maintaining a $1,000 cap for third and successive violations within 12 months; staff clarified the resolution language to show those figures are maximums and that officers retain discretion to impose lesser amounts. Galente referenced California Government Code authority permitting administrative penalties up to $1,000 for certain municipal code misdemeanors.

Members of the public and council members urged tougher deterrents. Harvey Luth and other residents described repeated truck traffic cutting through neighborhoods (including Eucalyptus Avenue and West Preserve Loop) and the risk to pedestrians and wheelchair users. A public commenter and several council members said higher fines alone may not suffice and recommended pursuing license‑affecting citations or notice‑to‑appear procedures for repeat offenders.

Police leadership told the council that the department issues roughly 3,000 truck‑route citations a year and that about 70 are repeat offenders annually. The Police Chief said the city averages roughly $700,000 a year in revenue from truck‑route violations and described enforcement tactics including dedicated commercial enforcement officers, targeted saturation operations, briefcam camera analytics, truck‑route maps provided at citation time and meetings with carrier transportation managers to reduce violations. Officers cautioned that converting many citations to notice‑to‑appear cases would require substantial officer time in traffic court and could reduce on‑street enforcement capacity.

Council members supported the ordinance change while asking staff to return with options to increase enforcement capacity, consider additional signage and advance warning signs, and explore strategies to take actions that affect drivers’ records and insurance where appropriate. The council also directed staff to include the clarified “up to” language in the resolution to preserve officer discretion.

The motion passed by voice/electronic vote; the mayor was absent. Council indicated it will monitor enforcement results and consider further changes if the revised fine levels do not reduce neighborhood cut‑through traffic.