Lack of Line at Highway’s Edge Leaves Motorist in a Fog

Dear Street Smart:

The high rate of deaths on California 126 impels me to write you about a serious problem of this highway, one which I have not seen discussed in your most interesting column.

In general, I am not a fearful person.

But I am terrified when the following conditions occur at one time on that highway: rain, darkness, a hill that is also a curve, an oncoming truck aiming its lights exactly at eye level, the slow eye reflexes of a person over 50 and a new coat of asphalt on the road.

When the road is being resurfaced, there are long delays before the white stripe called the “fog line” is restored to the right edge of the road.

Without it, the driver cannot tell the boundaries between road, shoulder and ditch.

Last year, I phoned to report that it had been four weeks that one stretch between Fillmore and Piru had been without that line.

After being routed from agency to agency, I finally found at the fifth or sixth office a man who admitted that it was their project.

He told me that contractors are required to put down a temporary stripe every night when they finish work, and to paint the permanent stripe within two weeks.

Nevertheless, it was another four MONTHS before the stripe was painted.

Are the contractors too important to have to obey the law?

Please look into this.

Dora P. Crouch, Santa Paula

Dear Reader:

According to state regulations, road crews are not required to put down temporary outside lines on roads under construction.

The law stipulates only that dashed striping must be laid down the center of the roadway, to separate traffic lanes.

Road crews routinely follow this procedure, laying down reflective strips of tape at the close of each working day, says Dave Servaes, maintenance manager for the state Department of Transportation.

Since the law does not require it, Caltrans is not equipped with adhesive that would simulate the solid white lines that run along the edges of the roadway, he says. And pasting yellow reflective strips at roads’ edge would only confuse motorists, he says.

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Dear Street Smart:

I would appreciate some clarification about the rules for turning left at an intersection.

Are cars permitted to turn left if the light for through traffic is green and the left-turn arrow is red if there is not a posted sign stating “left turn on arrow only”?

I learned (or thought I learned) in traffic school a couple of years ago that the above is permitted.

But no one I’ve spoken with, including a policeman, has ever heard of this, and I’ve never seen another driver turn left on a red arrow.

Thank you for clarifying this.

Judith A. Beay, Ventura

Dear Reader:

That traffic school is wrong, wrong, wrong, says Nazir Lalani, Ventura traffic engineer.

“You can never, under any circumstances, turn left on a red arrow,” he said. “You can turn left on a green arrow, obviously you can complete your turn on an amber arrow, but never start turning left on a red arrow.”

There are some signals that have green left-turn arrows that simply shut off and no red arrow appears. At those intersections, motorists are allowed to turn left when the straight-ahead signal turns green, as long as the coast is clear, he says.

“But when that green ball turns red, you can’t turn,” Lalani said. “Whenever there is a red indication, you must stop.”

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Dear Street Smart:

Thank you for your response last week to the question of traffic on Royal Avenue at Madera Road in Simi Valley.

The problem was caused by an entrance on Royal to the shopping center at the corner. My question concerns the Madera entrance to the center.

There is an extra right lane for traffic coming out of the center. But the lane disappears pretty quickly.

It is sometimes difficult to merge with oncoming traffic before the lane ends.

Any chance this extra lane could be extended down Madera to Los Angeles Avenue?

Michael Golden, Simi Valley

Dear Reader:

As cities such as Simi Valley become more and more developed, road widening projects are often incorporated into agreements for new construction.

Such was the case with the widening of Madera near the shopping center. When the center went in, the city required the developer to widen the roadway, says Bill Golubics, Simi Valley traffic engineer.

Likewise, when the vacant lot at Madera and Los Angeles is developed, probably within the next several years, the street will be widened from four to six lanes, Golubics says.