Squeaky Wheel Likely to Get Action From Authorities

Dear Street Smart:

The 45-m.p.h. speed limit on Santa Ana Canyon Road is ignored. People use this road, which parallels the Riverside Freeway, as a bypass when the freeway gets clogged up. But there are children walking, joggers running, bikers, mothers with strollers and other pedestrians along the way.

I use it daily and have never seen any one stopped for speeding. I would like to see the speeding stopped. Maybe several speed bumps would help.

Donna Pulliam

Anaheim

Speed bumps certainly would slow the traffic down. Problem is, the bumps would also probably send some knucklehead and his high-

octane GTO into a low-earth orbit. Since no one wants to give even John Glenn wannabes that sort of opportunity, speed bumps are probably out of the question for such a well-

traveled arterial as Santa Ana Canyon Road.

Speed bumps are typically found in parking lots and other areas where cars travel at very slow speeds. Both Anaheim and Newport Beach have in recent months considered using speed “humps,” broader slaps of concrete that can help slow down traffic on neighborhood streets.

Unfortunately, speed humps generally cannot be deployed safely on higher-speed roads like Santa Ana Canyon. Even at 45 m.p.h., a car might end up flying out of control and crash in someone’s living room.

With that in mind, it becomes a matter of police enforcement to keep traffic from regularly exceeding the speed limit on busy thoroughfares.

Sgt. Karl Fonceca of the Anaheim police traffic division said Santa Ana Canyon Road is a regular problem because of its proximity to the freeway. As they spin off to avoid the congestion that plagues the Riverside Freeway, motorists have a hard time adjusting to the fact they’re on a road with a 45-m.p.h. speed limit, he said.

Fonceca said police assign officers to work the stretch of road as workloads permit. Several times each year, the department assigns extra officers to the road to conduct a selective enforcement operation, which has the effect of slowing things down for a time. But within weeks after the effort concludes, cars are back up above the speed limit, Fonceca said.

The powers that be at police departments typically allocate their officers based on complaints from the community. So perhaps the most effective way to ensure that police traffic units patrol Santa Ana Canyon Road on a more regular basis is to make timely calls to the local station house. Another option is to advise city council members of problems. And it never hurts if your friends and neighbors join the chorus.

Dear Street Smart:

When the signal at the T-intersection of Newport Boulevard and Crawford Canyon in the unincorporated northern Tustin area was first installed, it was “smart.” Based on traffic flow, the signal timing was variable as needed.

Now the light has become “dumb.” The timing appears to be for fixed intervals, regardless of traffic flow. Any influence you may have in getting this light returned to its smart condition would be appreciated.

William R. Krause

Santa Ana

We talked to county traffic officials about the problem, and they dispatched a technician to check out the problem on Friday. The technician found all systems working, including the computer and the wire “loops” in the pavement that kick off the lights when cars pull up to the intersection, according to Ron Keith, the county’s traffic signal operations supervisor.

But the technician found that the signal was not giving a long enough green light for the traffic traveling north and south along Newport Boulevard. The signal was adjusted, which should alleviate the problem.

Unfortunately, the biggest glitch is not with the traffic signal, but with ourselves. There are just too many cars traveling through that intersection during morning and evening rush hours, prompting a far more significant congestion problem than occurred when the signal was first installed just 18 months ago, Keith said.

Fortunately, the county is planning to add two new lanes to Newport Boulevard and totally rebuild the Crawford Canyon intersection beginning in October, he said.

The additional lanes will help allow more cars get through the intersection in a timely manner. Moreover, the project will include new, more sensitive signal equipment to ensure that drivers aren’t dealing with a dumb red light.

Dear Street Smart:

In reference to the June 4 letter by Ute Hertel of Irvine, who begrudges mothers the use of car-pool lanes: Give us mothers a break!

Sometimes we use the car-pool lanes to get a child to the doctor. And, yes, sometimes we take our children to Grandma’s house, too.

I don’t know if Ute Hertel has much experience with children, but they can occasionally become impatient and noisy during long car rides. Doesn’t it make sense for safety reasons to let the mother get them to their destination quickly to avoid becoming distracted and causing an accident?

My feathers are indeed a bit ruffled. If it’s any comfort, the kids and I only use the car-pool lanes when traffic is really congested, otherwise I stay in the general flow lanes. Also, I am of the opinion that speeders love the car-pool lanes, and I prefer to stay out of their way. But if I’m stuck in traffic with the kids, no matter what my destination is, I will not hesitate to use the car-pool lanes, and I will stay within a resonable speed limit, much to the chagrin of the other drivers.

Jacqueline Boller

El Toro

The “Baby on Board” set strikes back!

For those of you who missed it, Ute Hertel argued that car-pool lanes should be reserved for vehicles with two people who can drive, arguing that her cats are just as capable of driving as babies but they don’t count for the commuter lane.

The law is simple: It takes two people of any age to make up a car pool and thus qualify a vehicle for the commuter lane. Transportation authorities have toyed with the idea of age limits but concluded that it would make enforcement of the laws a nightmare.