Motorists Might Find Themselves on the Driving Range

Dear Street Smart: I think the public should be aware of a serious accident waiting to happen.

A week ago, I had occasion to play golf at the Tustin Ranch Golf Club. There are a number of holes there where an errant shot could easily hit traffic. This fact came to light when a member of my playing group sliced his drive onto Irvine Boulevard, between Jamboree and Tustin Ranch Road.

What can be done to force the golf club to build a high protective screen at this site and at all golfing facilities where this danger exists? Also, who faces the liability suit should an accident result?

Neil E. Goldberger

Foothill Ranch

Mike Lichty, general manager of the Tustin Ranch Golf Club, said he was unaware of any complaints about errant balls landing on public streets. And without them, he said, he is loathe to urge the facility’s owners to go to the expense of adding a barrier or heightening the fence.

“Fences are expensive,” Lichty said. “If we got complaints that started adding up, then obviously we’d take the situation more seriously, but we haven’t had enough complaints to take any action. Everyone who plays golf at some point has hit a ball off the course and onto a street. It just happens, and it’s impractical to put up a 300-foot fence around every golf course.”

The only shot capable of landing a ball in the street, he said, is what’s known as a “shank” shot, “one of the two or three ugliest shots in golf . . . when a ball is miss-hit so badly that it . . . tends to squirt dead right.

“I’ve seen it happen,” Lichty said, referring to balls that fly over the golf club’s six-foot fence onto Irvine Boulevard. “It’s not a frequent thing.”

But Jess J. Araujo, a Santa Ana attorney who specializes in personal injury law and teaches at Cal State Fullerton, said golf courses without very high fences all around may be running a legal risk. The ultimate determination of liability for any damage, of course, can be made only by a judge or jury. But if he were filing a case on behalf of a driver injured by a golf ball, Araujo said, he would name not only the golfer but the golf club and perhaps even the city that issued the building permits.

“When you’re driving down the street, you have the right to expect not to get hit by a golf ball,” Araujo said. “People who are in the business of golf have a duty to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Dear Street Smart: I would like to know more about the rules on driving in the bike lane.

When are you allowed to go into a bike lane before reaching the broken lines? For example, what about when there is heavy traffic in the morning on Moulton Parkway and El Toro Road in Laguna Hills and you’re going to make a right turn? The traffic is backed up and there is no right-turn lane, but there is a bike lane big enough to go into that has five cars already in it, ready to make a right. Is it OK to go into the bike lane early if your only purpose is to make a right and you’re not blocking traffic?

Jim Mansfield

Laguna Hills

Yes, up to a point, said Steve Kohler, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol. According to the California Vehicle Code, he said, there are three occasions when a driver may enter a bike lane legally: to park where parking is permitted, to enter or leave the roadway or to prepare for a turn within 200 feet of the intersection. But you may not enter the bike lane beyond the 200-foot limit. And, of course, he said, “you want to watch for bicyclists.”

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 David Haldane, c/o Street Smart, The Times Orange County, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or e-mail him at David.Haldane@latimes.com. Include your full name, address and day and evening phone numbers. Letters may be edited, and no anonymous letters will be accepted.