‘Daylight Test Area’ Is Really a Highway Safety Measure

Dear Street Smart:

On California 126 near Fillmore, there are signs that ask drivers to turn on their headlights because it is a “daylight test area.”

I am wondering if the results of that test are going to be published in the near future.

I have lived in the county for 30 years and have yet to see any results.

Richard Baker, Oxnard

Dear Reader:

The results are in, so read on.

The daylight test area is one of a series of highway safety measures introduced in California in the late 1960s to help deal with the state’s growing freeway system, says Luu Nguyen, engineer with the state Department of Transportation.

The test area signs on California 126 were installed in 1977. When a study conducted 18 months later showed no change in the accident rate, the signs were removed.

Then in 1984 the accident rate on the two-lane highway began to climb, and the test area was re-established. But a survey in 1985 showed that fewer than 25% of the drivers were actually turning on their lights.

That does not, however, mean that drivers failed the test. The word test is actually a misnomer, Nguyen says. One of the main goals of the test area is simply to plant the seed in motorists’ minds that they should drive cautiously, he says.

“It’s a psychological thing, really,” he said. “People see the signs and they think ‘Oh, maybe I should be a little more careful here.’ ”

Accident rates on California 126 have remained relatively high, but this summer, Caltrans will launch a $22-million project to widen the roadway from two to four lanes.

Since daylight test areas are only established on two-lane highways, the new roadway will mean the end of the test on California 126.

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Dear Street Smart:

Two-lane Henderson Road between Thille Street and Wells Road has become east Ventura’s unplanned freeway.

Traffic is nonstop at 45 m.p.h., making the lives of nearby residents miserable.

In comparison, traffic seems light on nearby four-lane Telephone Road.

A solution would be to divert some of the traffic from Henderson to Telephone.

There are several ways this could be done:

* Install some serious speed bumps on Henderson.

* Make it harder for drivers to turn left from Kimball Road onto Thille by shortening the left-turn arrow timing.

* Make it easier and quicker for drivers to turn left from Kimball, Montgomery Avenue and Petit Avenue onto Telephone by giving them a longer left-turn arrow.

Donna Deane, Ventura

Dear Reader:

Traffic is faster and heavier than it should be on Henderson, Ventura Engineer Nazir Lalani says.

But the solutions you suggest are not the best way to deal with the problem, he says.

The city of Ventura does not allow speed bumps on public streets, and timing of the left-turn arrows cannot be altered because they have already been fine-tuned to make the traffic flow as smoothly as possible.

However, there may be another way to ease the traffic on your street.

The Traffic and Roads Department has just inherited a radar trailer from the police, and it plans to start using it on roads like Henderson. The device flashes motorists’ speed in oversized numbers.

“We hope when people see how fast they are going, they will take notice and slow down,” Lalani said.

If that doesn’t work, the city may seek neighborhood volunteers to flag down speeding drivers, Lalani says.

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Dear Street Smart:

The northbound left-turn lanes on Los Angeles Avenue in Simi Valley have always been crowded, but lately the problem seems to be getting worse.

It seems like whenever I want to turn left at 1st Street, Erringer Road or Sycamore Drive, the cars are spilling out of the turn lane and into traffic.

Can’t these left-turn lanes be lengthened, or the arrows left on a little longer?

The problem is getting out of hand.

Paul Munoz, Simi Valley

Dear Reader:

Traffic on Los Angeles Avenue can back up during busy daytime hours, and the city is doing its part to make it easier for cars to turn left.

Over the next few months, left-turn signals all over town will be converted from left-turn on green arrow only to left-turn on arrow or on the regular green ball, Engineer Chick Dabbs says.

This will give cars turning left more time, which should help ease the back-ups in the left-turn lanes.