Motorist Uses His Turn Signals but Trusts Only Himself
Dear Street Smart:
I read your Golden Hood Ornament/Dented Hubcap awards column (Dec. 31) with some amusement, as I am sure it was intended, and felt compelled to add my two cents worth to the chagrin expressed toward those who do not use their turn signals.
I make a point of using my turn signals for all turns and lane changes, even when turning into my own driveway. Unlike (John Richards II), however, the neighborhood cats and their owners pay no attention to my signals whatsoever.
Two years ago I was returning home when I was struck broadside by another motorist from behind while I was making a left turn into my driveway. Yes, I had used my turn signal. Fortunately, no one was injured, with the exception of the vehicles involved.
The story doesn’t end with that incident, though. Not long ago, I had a nearly identical experience. Luckily, I checked my side-view mirror to see if anyone was charging down the street toward me as I made my turn (mind you, this is a residential street with a speed limit of 25 m.p.h. that seems to be observed by no one).
Sure enough, one of my neighbors was racing toward me as I hit my left-turn signal to turn into my driveway. I stopped, and yelled out in irritation, which was met with a look of shock at my uncivilized behavior as he sped by on my left.
I still use my turn signals even when approaching my driveway. But, like I have been told ever since I first got my car keys, I don’t trust anyone on the road but me.
Leslie J. Lehman, Garden Grove Like they say, accidents happen. But an accident such as you described just shouldn’t happen.
As I see it, there are two key causes to such knuckleheaded smashups: excessive speed and tailgating. If motorists stay back far enough and keep at the posted speed limit, they can easily react to cars turning suddenly into driveways, even those that don’t signal.
But take heed. The account of your wreck is hardly the most bizarre description I’ve heard of a traffic trauma on a residential street. My favorite tale involved one of my neighbors.
A number of years ago, she and her husband found themselves driving toward each other on their home street. In a moment of jest, both pointed their cars toward one another as they hurtled forward. Unfortunately, this little game of chicken became all too real. Neither one turned away, and the cars sideswiped in a terrible scrape of metal on metal.
When they pulled themselves unhurt from their cars, they couldn’t help but begin chuckling. Other homeowners came out to find the two rolling with laughter. Alas, they weren’t clucking when they visited the body shop.
The moral of the story, if there is one, is this: If you’re going to make an impression on your loved one, do it with flowers, not with the front grill of your Chevrolet.
Dear Street Smart:
I totally disagree with your Golden Hood Ornament Award to John Wilson of Costa Mesa, who was honored “for noting the peculiar practice of Southern Californians in using the when referring to freeways, as in ‘go get on the 91.’ ”
It is very proper English to say “ the 91” because what is really being meant, but left unsaid, is “the 91 freeway. “ Used in this manner, 91 is merely an adjective identifying the freeway one is speaking of. It is not proper to say “get on 91.” It leaves the question: 91 what? Get on 91 plates? 91 marshmallows? 91 postage stamps? 91 editions of the L.A. Times?
Saying “get on the 91” implies getting on something named 91 and that something is the 91 freeway. You might argue that 91 is the proper name of the freeway. I believe it is simply an identifier telling us which freeway we’re on.
No, I am not a professor of English, but I am manager of a technical publications group.
On another front, let’s give a Dented Hubcap to the traffic engineering people of the city of Westminster for the ignorant signal at Victoria Lane, which crosses Bolsa Avenue at the Westminster Mall. Four months ago, I was told by these people that they would have the signal fixed in a month. It no longer senses cross traffic, but cycles through its entire sequence right down to the left-turn signals when no one is in the left-turn lanes.
After seeing many cars run the red light, I called the Westminster Police Department back before Thanksgiving. Nothing has changed. The signal still doesn’t work right and I have seen no black-and-whites.
Finally, when you’re at the Westminster Mall, notice the bushes planted recently in the medians on the entrances. These bushes will eventually block the vision of every driver at every entrance, and traffic will either slow or an accident will occur (again and again). So let’s give the Westminster Mall a Dented Hubcap!
Larry L. Tracy, Costa Mesa In defense of the mall (which is hard for me to do because I never really met a mall I liked), those bushes certainly can be sheared if they get tall enough to block the vision of motorists. It is hoped that some good gardener will be wise enough to give them a trim at the appropriate time.
As for the dumb-dumb signal light at Victoria Lane, the city of Westminster would be the first to agree that it needs fixing. They want to do just that, but say they have been stymied by circumstances that are out of their control.
It seems that the old signal control system at Victoria Lane burned out a few months back. The city’s road crews tried to fix the system, which was manufacturered by a firm that has since gone out of business, but failed for lack of the proper spare parts. So the signal was set to run off its rudimentary back-up system--a time clock that switches the traffic lights whether there is someone waiting or not.
Amid all that hubbub, the city was in the middle of an ambitious effort to upgrade the computers that control dozens of signals scattered throughout Westminster, including the one at Victoria Lane and Bolsa Avenue. The new computers were supposed to arrive several months ago, so the city decided to wait the few weeks until the devices came in.
Unfortunately, the manufacturer of the signal computers, Multisonics, has had problems meeting the delivery date, according to Gerard Charles, a traffic technician for Westminster.
As he explains it, the Brea firm was purchased in October by a larger company, and its entire manufacturing operation was moved to Texas. In the process, the firm fell far behind in its equipment deliveries.
Now the firm has promised the computers within a few weeks. Charles says he expects to have the signal at Victoria Lane operating properly by the end of the month.
Red Hill Alert: Motorists accustomed to zipping on and off the Santa Ana Freeway at Red Hill Avenue be forewarned. Come Jan. 14, Caltrans plans to close the freeway ramps there to make way for the ongoing freeway widening project.
The northbound on-ramp and southbound off-ramp will be closed until fall. The northbound off-ramp and southbound on-ramp are not scheduled to reopen until the summer of 1992.
In addition, traffic along Red Hill Avenue will be reduced to one lane in each direction between Nisson Road and El Camino Real.
As an alternative, Caltrans is urging motorists to use the on-ramps at Newport Avenue or the newly completed on- and off-ramps at Jamboree Road.
