Ortega Highway and the Reasons for Traffic Accidents

Perhaps I am a bit tardy in addressing the eight-injury accident (Sept. 9), but as a relatively frequent user of Ortega Highway, I simmer a while and then I boil.

Speed was blamed, according to the headline, and the story alleged that this scenic route is perhaps the most dangerous two-lane stretch in California. Driving too slow must receive equal consideration as a deadly hazard and contributory factor in many crashes.

Since moving to Lake Elsinore I have driven this lovely but treacherous thoroughfare countless times. It is unbelievable how frequently motorists abruptly pull out of side roads, then toodle on at 10 or 15 m.p.h.

The lead driver remains oblivious and/or indifferent to me and other motorists who begin backing up into a potentially lethal parade of impatience and frustration. Sooner or later, someone must pull out and pass.

Post signs requiring daytime use of headlights? Ridiculous. The legal speed limit, unless otherwise posted, is 55 m.p.h. The law also requires motorists to pull over if they are holding up five or more cars and let them pass. Turnout areas are provided for this.

I advocate saturation enforcement of existing laws against people who labor under the delusion that slow is safe, at least in addition to the simplistic notion of daytime headlight use.

Speeding, drinking and reckless driving certainly play a major role in the hazards of driving Ortega Highway. But ignorance of or refusal to obey statutes governing driving too slowly for prevailing conditions must share major blame for the inordinate accident rate.

And despite the attitude of concern over it, in all my trips over Ortega Highway, I have yet to see a CHP unit on apparent patrol, only at the scene of yet another accident or speeding with red lights and siren to one somewhere ahead.

JOSEPHINE VINSEL

Lake Elsinore