We here at Street Smart like to...

We here at Street Smart like to think of the column as a forum for ideas and suggestions, a sort of New England town meeting for the motoring public. So, from time to time, we print letters from readers commenting on our previous answers. Today’s is from a reader upset about an explanation we offered last week about numbering freeway exit signs.

Dear Street Smart:

Jim Drago of Caltrans wonders, “What’s the difference between saying, ‘Get off at Exit 60’ and ‘Get off at the Euclid Avenue exit’? Is somebody going to remember the number more than the name?”

Apparently, Mr. Drago has never visited a state where exits are numbered. Numbered exits have several advantages, some of which make them superior to names, and others that merely make them a useful adjunct. For example:

1. Some of us do remember numbers more easily than names.

2. Numbers do not suffer from spelling problems.

3. Numbers do not duplicate themselves at random. There are at least four exits from the 405 marked “Sepulveda Blvd.” Which is a driver to take?

4. Numbers give drivers an idea of how far away an exit is.

5. Numbers provide an extra sense of security. An out-of-town driver is confused already; giving him or her two ways to identify the correct exit can only help.

6. Numbered exits often are simpler to identify from maps. When two major streets cross the freeway in an X pattern, it is difficult to tell whether the exit will be marked “La Cienega” or “Venice.” But the exit number is easy to mark or even deduce.

Geoff Kuenning, Granada Hills

*

Dear Street Smart:

It doesn’t seem to me that it is possible for a driver to be safe and in control of his vehicle while one hand is being used to hold a telephone to his ear. The driver’s attention is divided between driving and a telephone conversation. Is there any movement to ban such use of the car phone?

Alan Schnitzer, Encino

Dear Reader:

We at Street Smart share your annoyance with drivers who insist on speeding down the road with one hand on the wheel and the other cradling the phone to their ear.

Unfortunately, though, we can find no movement afoot to ban the practice. What legislator in his right mind would want to sponsor a law that likely would come back to haunt him?

Department of Motor Vehicles spokesman Evan Nossoff said police can pull over motorists who drive recklessly, but only in extreme cases where other violations--such as speeding or unsafe lane changes--were noticed.

The best practice is to steer clear of these chatterbugs.

*

Dear Street Smart:

There is a strange situation on the Sepulveda Boulevard-Ventura Boulevard off-ramp from the northbound San Diego Freeway. At the bottom of the off-ramp there are two lanes. The left lane must turn left onto Sepulveda, heading toward Ventura. Cars in the right lane can turn left, go straight or turn right onto Sepulveda.

There is also space wide enough for a right-turn lane that is now striped and not to be used. This creates two problems. Cars waiting to turn right usually are blocked by one or more cars waiting through the entire sequence of lights in order to turn left. Also, some drivers do not respect the striped area and use it, illegally, as a right-turn lane. This has resulted in many accidents or near misses as cars beginning a legal right turn suddenly encounter another car making an illegal turn from the striped area.

Why can’t this striped area be made into a legitimate right-turn lane?

Dick Tyler, Sherman Oaks

Dear Reader:

Caltrans traffic engineers visited the off-ramp in question and agree with your observation that there appears to be ample room for an additional lane. But don’t think that means one will appear.

Caltrans spokesman Russ Snyder said engineers now must conduct traffic counts for the off-ramp and study accident statistics to see if an extra lane is needed, is cost-effective and is safe.

They must also look at the ramp’s original design to see why an extra lane was not included in the first place. Snyder said it may turn out that while the end of the ramp is wide enough for a third lane, the rest of it is not.

In any case, the engineers said it will take about a month to research the situation and decide how best to proceed. We’ll keep you posted.

*

Dear Street Smart:

I read with interest the question from a reader regarding the placement of trigger sensors for automated traffic signals. I’ve been engaged in a debate with my wife lately as to how these things actually work.

She thinks the signal change is tripped immediately by a car on the sensor, even though the delay appears to be random. She thinks the delay occurs because the sensor does not work well, thus she can decrease the time delay by rocking her car back and forth across the sensor, just to make sure it knows she is there.

I, on the other hand, believe that there is a timer that sets the signal up for a change, but then it only changes if there is a car on the sensor when the time is up. This would account for the seeming randomness of the signal switching, since you will never know where in the time sequence you are when you reach the sensor.

So which is it?

Jesse Evans, Northridge

Dear Reader:

We sincerely hope you are the sort to take victory gracefully because both of your wife’s arguments are wrong. Los Angeles traffic engineer Brian Gallagher said that you are indeed correct about the timing of traffic lights.

Here’s how it works: Most sensors in intersections are tied to the signal’s normal time cycle and will only scan for cars at the signal’s regular interval--generally about 60 to 90 seconds. In other words, the signal system will check for cars only every 60 to 90 seconds. If it detects a car at that point, it will begin the process of changing the lights on the cross street. Otherwise, nothing changes.

The purpose is to minimize disruptions on the cross street. Ideally, the main road’s traffic lights are coordinated for several miles at a stretch. If side-street lights changed every time sensors detected a car, it would throw off the synchronized system and traffic would be a mess.

As for your wife’s practice of rocking back and forth over the sensors, Gallagher called that a bad idea. In addition to creating the potential for a fender-bender, Gallagher said such rocking can actually cause your wife to wait longer for the light. The reason: If she rocks off the sensor just as it is about to check for cars, she will have to wait through another cycle for the light to change.