If Visibility is Poor, Shine a Light--Even in the Daytime

Dear Street Smart:

It’s raining. It’s daytime, but the visibility is poor. There is a long line of headlights coming down the street or road.

You want to get into the line or cross it. Then there is a break in the line of lights. Enough for you to make your move.

Lo and behold, there is a car in that space without its headlights on.

Ask the driver why he won’t turn his lights on when it’s raining. Did someone tell him it costs money to run with his lights on?

I’ll bet he is the same guy who won’t use his blinker to signal for a turn.

Warren Ames

La Habra

Here’s what the experts say, chapter and verse, about headlights.

Use your headlights when it is cloudy, raining, snowing or foggy. Use your headlights on frosty mornings when other drivers’ windows may be icy or cloudy. Use your headlights any time you have trouble seeing other cars, because chances are other drivers have trouble seeing you. Use your headlights on small country or mountain roads, even on sunny days, to enable other drivers to see you all the better.

The law also clearly states you must use your lights beginning at 30 minutes after sunset until 30 minutes before sunrise.

You must turn on your lights any time you can’t see at least 1,000 feet ahead and it is illegal to drive with only your parking lights on.

Dear Street Smart:

On the westbound Riverside Freeway at Magnolia Avenue, a new lane starts as the right-hand lane. It is common for large trucks to immediately merge right only to find that around the first curve there is a “Right Lane Must Exit” sign, causing trucks to merge left into the lane they just exited. Can a sign be placed near the beginning of that lane to alleviate the problem?

Also, at several freeway interchanges, the outside lane of one freeway serves as a connector to another freeway (e.g., the number four lane on the northbound Orange Freeway connects the Riverside Freeway, or westbound Artesia Freeway to the San Gabriel River Freeway). Trucks therefore move left two lanes to avoid the turnoff.

Can signs be placed at these interchanges telling truckers that the number three lane won’t exit?

M. Paul Marshal

Fullerton

The right-hand lane you mention on the westbound Riverside Freeway between the Magnolia Avenue off-ramp and Brookhurst Street is actually an auxiliary lane, said Rose Orem, a Caltrans spokeswoman. It is marked by short, broken lines known as elephant track markings, and is intended for drivers merging from the on-ramp to regular traffic or merging right to the off-ramp, she said.

The sign “Thru Traffic Merge Left” is placed at the beginning of the auxiliary lane.

As to the second part of your question, Caltrans traffic engineers investigated the signs over the northbound Orange Freeway approaching the Riverside Freeway interchange and agreed with your suggestion.

A “Trucks OK” sign will be added above the number three lane arrow of the overhead sign to emphasize which lane is for through traffic, Orem said. This should be helpful to trucks, she said.

*

A new interactive, mobile kiosk is getting out the word about the El Toro “Y” and Interstate 5 improvements. Residents and businesses in San Juan Capistrano can now access information by simply touching the kiosk’s screen, which prompts a video that describes the $166-million “Y” project.

The kiosk, sponsored by the Orange County Transportation Authority, is at the Price Club at 33961 Doheny Park Road, San Juan Capistrano. It will be there through April 7 before it moves on to Western Digital in Irvine and then to Kmart in Lake Forest.

For information about the mobile kiosk or for updated construction information, call the Transportation Helpline at (714) 724-2077.

Street Smart appears Mondays in The Times Orange County Edition. Readers are invited to submit comments and questions about traffic, commuting and what makes it difficult to get around in Orange County. Include simple sketches if helpful. Letters may be published in upcoming columns. Please write to Caroline Lemke, c/o Street Smart, The Times Orange County, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Include your full name, address and day and evening phone numbers. Letters may be edited, and no anonymous letters will be accepted.