Californians are famous for their love of...

Californians are famous for their love of vehicles and propensity to drive and drive and drive and drive. But very few can hold a steering wheel to James Monroe Moore, a man who truly knows his vehicle--in this case, an 80,000-pound cement mixer truck.

Moore, 65, who drives for Werner Corp., has covered more than 4 million miles on the job without a single accident since he slipped behind the wheel back in 1948 in Columbus, Ohio.

On Tuesday, he was named Southern California’s best driver by the National Safety Council and was inducted into its Million Mile Club. Only one other recipient of the award has ever logged that many miles.

Art Arbizu, director of the Irwindale-based Teamsters and Rock Products Industry Training Program, which provides schooling for cement truck drivers, noted, “His record is very unusual. The mixer truck is the most complicated truck to drive because it’s so top-heavy and easy to topple.� Moore learned tricks of the trade on his first job. “We made 60 cents an hour then, and they gave drivers $10 extra at the end of the month if they didn’t have an accident,� he explained. “Those were heavy dollars, so I drove defensively.�

He added, “It’s like a horse. You can’t be afraid of the trucks, but you have to have respect for them. And once in the saddle, you are the boss.�

Another vehicle competition will be held next week, when more than 200 regional drivers vie for recognition in the 52nd Annual Truck Driving Championship.

“This is the Olympics, the Super Bowl, the World Series all rolled into one,� said George Reid, president of Con-Way Western Express, which is hosting the May 13 meeting in Santa Fe Springs.

Companies from all over Southern California are sending their top drivers to perform fancy maneuvers, such as gliding through lanes with only a three-inch clearance on each side, making tricky turns from one alley to another, backing up to docks and executing serpentine turns.

While truckers are trying to make the highways safer, criminals are going to make the streets a cleaner place, thanks to a new court program.

Los Angeles City Atty. James Hahn Tuesday kicked off an alternative sentencing program under which those convicted of misdemeanors in West Los Angeles Municipal Court may have to spend 10 to 20 hours sweeping streets and performing other civic jobs such as cleaning police stations, repairing cars and doing clerical work.

Under the new program, up to 700 offenders a month deemed by the judges not to be a threat will work off their time by working for the city.

Law enforcement officials believe that many offenders commit crimes because they feel no ties to the community. “We’re going to show them we expect them to behave as members of the community,� said Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, who suggested the program.

And while street sweeping may seem like a piddling price to pay for a crime, Hahn noted that people who now are sentenced to 37 days or less in county jail actually serve less than a day behind bars because of overcrowding.

And yet more car news:

Cal Worthington, a car salesman most famous for appearing in commercials with his dog Spot, was told by the Long Beach Planning Commission that it didn’t like the spot where he was storing and selling trade-in cars.

The controversy started when residents complained about a steady stream of cars through their neighborhood to a storage lot at 23rd Street and Euclid Avenue. The peace was also disrupted, they said, when dealers combed the lot, barking about trade-in prices. The lot is not zoned for such business, city officials ruled, and Worthington, who subleases the land, was ordered to stop the practice.

He applied for a conditional use permit to change the zoning, but the Planning Commission wouldn’t let Worthington off the leash and denied his request.