Motorist’s Timely Tip Helps Caltrans Reset Traffic Light

Dear Street Smart: When exiting the Ventura Freeway to go west on Hampshire Road in Thousand Oaks, there are large “No Right Turn on Red” signs.

I presume this is because visibility is poor on the left. This appears to be proper.

However, the green signal at this exit is very short. Frequently, only two cars or trucks can get through the signal.

The green light for the cross-traffic on Hampshire, however, is quite long. When eight cars are stacked up at the exit, it take a long time to get through the intersection.

Is Caltrans, or whoever is in charge, aware of this very short light?

Leo Bialis, Thousand Oaks

Dear Reader:

Caltrans is indeed in charge of this signal. And the agency has become aware of the problem with this traffic light, thanks to your letter.

As a result of your question, Caltrans sent a traffic engineer to check the timing on this signal.

“There was a malfunction,” says Russell Snyder, a Caltrans spokesman. “The signal was not timed properly. They reset it to make it work the way it was supposed to.”

The Caltrans engineer found that each green light on the ramp lasted only 10 seconds. For morning and evening rush-hour traffic, the green light timing has been changed to 20 seconds to allow more cars to get through the intersection.

“We appreciate when people point things like this out,” Snyder says.

Traffic problems like this can be reported to Caltrans at (213) 897-3656, he says.

Incidentally, the Ventura County Transportation Commission recently allocated $1.2 million to Thousand Oaks for widening of the freeway ramps and the main roadway at the Hampshire Road interchange. This should also ease congestion at this exit.

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Dear Street Smart:

When you’re traveling west on Madera Road in Simi Valley, going toward Thousand Oaks, there is often a red light waiting for you at the intersection with Country Club Drive East.

The frustrating part is that most of the time, the red light is for no reason other than to allow cars that are in a right-turn-only lane on Country Club Drive East to turn east onto Madera on a green light.

Because this is a three-way T-shaped intersection, this is obviously an unnecessary stop for cars and trucks going the other direction--west--usually at 55 m.p.h.

Why not install a right-turn-only green arrow for traffic turning from Country Club Drive East onto Madera? Obviously, cars already moving east on Madera, approaching this intersection, would get a red light.

But this would allow cars going west on Madera to proceed unhindered, unless someone wanted to make a left turn onto Madera from Country Club Drive East.

This is rare occurrence, however. For drivers who want to turn left onto Madera, Wood Ranch Parkway is usually a more direct route.

The green right-turn arrow I’ve suggested would allow westbound traffic on Madera to flow much more smoothly.

Mark Williams, Thousand Oaks

Dear Reader:

Bill Golubics, Simi Valley’s traffic engineer, is intrigued by your idea.

“It certainly is an interesting suggestion that we may be able to implement,” he says. “The city staff will evaluate it.”

Here are a couple of things the city must check out.

The city must make sure that there are separate detectors in the pavement for each of the two lanes leaving Country Club Drive East. This is necessary because the traffic computer must be able to tell whether a car is waiting to turn left or right onto Madera.

In addition, the traffic light would have to be reprogrammed to provide a green arrow whenever the only cars waiting on Country Club Drive East were those waiting to turn right.

The city also would have to determine how much it would cost to modify the signal to make room for new green and yellow arrows.

But there is reason to be optimistic. Golubics now has a copy of your proposal and the map you drew to show where the changes are needed.

What you’ve proposed “appears to be a feasible modification,” the traffic engineer says. “We’ll study that.”

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Dear Street Smart:

My inquiry concerns the school-zone speed limit approaching Santa Rosa School. This elementary school is on Santa Rosa Road in the unincorporated area just east of Camarillo.

I have always understood that California law requires that motorists reduce their speed to 25 m.p.h. when approaching a school zone whenever children are present.

Last year, flashing yellow lights were installed in advance of the entrance to the school. These lights operate for approximately one half-hour in the morning and again in the afternoon to alert drivers on Santa Rosa Road, where the speed limit is 55 m.p.h., of the oncoming school zone.

The problem is this: No one slows down, except for drivers pulling into the school parking lot.

When I have attempted to slow down, as the law requires, I have been either driven off the road, cursed and yelled at, or have come dangerously close to being rear-ended.

The flashing lights were placed to permit ample time to slow down--provided that drivers intend to slow down.

With the new school year commencing, it would be advantageous to look into this matter.

Deborah M. Katler, Camarillo

Dear Reader:

Even if other drivers don’t follow suit, you are doing the right thing when you ease up on the gas as you approach this school, says Butch Britt, the county’s deputy public works director.

“Even if the lights are not flashing, but children are present, you’re supposed to slow down,” Britt says.

Recognizing the speed problem near Santa Rosa School, county officials installed the flashing yellow lights last year.

When the new school year began recently, the county also parked a trailer near the school equipped with a radar machine that reminds drivers exactly how fast they are moving.

The radar device is a temporary measure that loses its effectiveness after a few days, Britt says, so the trailer may already have been moved to another location where excessive speed is a problem.

Incidentally, Santa Rosa Road near this school is considered so hazardous that children are told not to cross it on foot to get to classes. “Every single student is bused, even those who live right across the street,” says Katy Merrill, the school’s principal.

Merrill and county officials have asked the California Highway Patrol to step up enforcement near the school. If a few more drivers receive speeding tickets, maybe more of them will pay attention to the flashing lights and signs as they approach the campus.