New Off-Ramp Lane Markers Will Keep Drivers in Line

Dear Street Smart:

On Feb. 27, you printed a letter regarding a problem at the Santa Rosa Road off-ramp from the southbound Ventura Freeway.

My friends and I agree that there is a problem with cars in the two left-turn lanes drifting into the wrong lane.

The solution, as I see it, is to paint a broad, solid, heavy white line so that drivers will not cross out of their lane.

Of course there are drivers who ignore all lines and markers because they are not interested in making things safer.

But I think this would help most people.

Arthur Shainhouse, Camarillo

Dear Reader:

Your conclusion that a solid line would help keep motorists in their lane is shared by Caltrans engineer Luu Nguyen.

After the February letter to Street Smart, he asked that raised lane markers be installed and a solid line be painted to separate the lanes.

However, the work has not yet been done because road crews are concentrating on repairing rain damage, Nguyen says.

Once that work is completed, the lane markers will be installed.

*

Dear Street Smart:

I would like to bring to your attention an accident waiting to happen at Santa Rosa Road and Verdugo Way in Camarillo.

There are two left-turn lanes from westbound Verdugo to southbound Santa Rosa. The problem is that there is an entrance to the Ventura Freeway nearby, and there are drivers who make the left turn, then cut across two lanes of traffic to get onto the freeway ramp.

Is it possible to set aside a lane for cars turning onto the freeway? This could help eliminate the problem.

Marc Sattler, Camarillo

Dear Reader:

The way the intersection is set up now, there is no lane set aside just for traffic entering the freeway.

If enough cars are heading onto the freeway, the city could mark one lane exclusively for freeway traffic, says Camarillo engineer Tom Fox.

In coming weeks, city workers will conduct a traffic count at the intersection to determine whether a separate lane is warranted.

*

Dear Street Smart:

We wish to address the need for either a stop sign or stoplight at Westlake Boulevard and Bridgegate Street.

The reason is simple: preservation of life, especially the lives of children.

The basic problem is the high speed of the majority of vehicles traveling either north or south on Westlake from Agoura Road to Potrero Road.

The posted speed limit is 45 m.p.h., but the layout of the road itself invites drivers to speed. The road is wide, straight and flat with no stop signs or lights, and people drive up to 80 m.p.h. (We borrowed a radar gun and timed vehicles three separate times.) In essence, it’s like a drag strip.

These speeders will not stop for pedestrians who are trying to cross Westlake, even when you are in the crosswalk in the middle of the intersection.

Recently our school crossing guard was escorting an 8-year-old boy across the street when a woman who was speeding rear-ended a van full of children that was stopped at the intersection.

As you can see, this intersection is highly dangerous, and it is only a matter of time before someone is killed by a speeder.

Alex and Margo Eitelbach, Thousand Oaks

Dear Reader:

As you may recall, residents in the neighborhood near Westlake and Bridgegate have written to Street Smart periodically to ask for a stop sign or signal at that intersection.

Each time, Thousand Oaks assistant traffic engineer Jeff Knowles has explained why the intersection does not merit a light or signal.

His reasons include the following:

* There is not enough traffic for the intersection to meet state guidelines for a light or signal.

* Installing a light or signal could actually increase the accident rate, because more accidents occur at intersections that have them than at those that don’t.

* A recent review of 50 Thousand Oaks intersections that had two or more collisions over a one-year period showed that more than half of those locations have stop signs or stoplights, Knowles says.

“It is very important that people understand that you cannot just put in a sign or signal and everybody will live happily ever after,” he says. “People think these things will make an intersection safer, when in fact they can result in people getting injured or killed.”