Without Sign, Drivers Could See a Turn for the Worse

Dear Street Smart:

Driving east on Kimber Drive, at the intersection of Kimber Drive and Wendy Drive in Newbury Park, there is a sign that reads “Right Lane, Right Turn Only.”

As there is only one lane there, what gives?

John Snyder, Newbury Park

Dear Reader:

Although there is only one lane designated along that stretch of Kimber Drive, the roadway does allow enough room for two lanes of traffic as it approaches that T-intersection at Wendy Drive.

Thousand Oaks traffic analyst Jeff Knowles said that because some motorists are slow to turn left onto Wendy Drive, some hurried drivers will pull alongside them and make the left turn at the same time.

While side-by-side drivers are allowed when one is going left and the other turns right, it is discouraged when both cars are turning the same way, Knowles said.

“They’re just in a hurry, so they’re turning from the wrong position,” Knowles said. “That sign’s a way of telling people on the left to turn left and people on the right to turn right.”

As for making that portion of Kimber Drive two lanes, Knowles said it would require extra, unneeded maintenance. “Less is better,” he said. “If it’s not a problem, we prefer not to fix it.”

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Dear Street Smart:

Traveling south on Victoria Avenue south of Wooley Road in Oxnard, the bushes in the center divider cause a dangerous hazard to drivers making a left turn onto Via Marina Avenue, Leeward Way and Ketch Avenue.

The bushes block the visibility of the left lane of Victoria Avenue so that vehicles traveling north in that lane cannot be seen until they are almost too close to avoid a collision.

Alden L. McMurtry, Oxnard

Dear Reader:

Oxnard traffic engineer Joe Genovese, who supervises more than 400 miles of public streets in his city, inspected the stretch of Victoria Avenue you wrote about, and he agrees that the shrubs impede visibility for drivers along Victoria Avenue to some extent.

“I am recommending that parks maintenance workers investigate trimming the shrubs in the median at Via Marina and at Leeward,” he said. “I don’t think any action is required at Ketch.”

Genovese said any visibility problems or concerns can be reported to his office at 385-7866, or at parks maintenance, 385-8099.

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Dear Street Smart:

At times, the state Department of Transportation can be quite good and at other times quite dangerous. It is dangerous that there are no concrete center dividers from the east end of Simi Valley to Thousand Oaks on the California 118 and 23 freeways.

The past three years have produced at least five fatalities and many injuries on the California 118 freeway between Madera Road and Princeton Avenue in Simi Valley/Moorpark that could have been prevented if dividers had been installed.

How many more deaths must occur before the barriers will go up? It is unfathomable that money can be a problem as it cannot be that expensive compared to saving lives, injuries and preventing lawsuits.

Thomas C. Duck, Moorpark

Dear Reader:

Like all state highways, the California 118 and 23 freeways are monitored annually to determine whether center medians are warranted, according to Luu Nguyen, who supervises state Department of Transportation crews in Ventura County.

Nguyen said there are two criteria that engineers look at when deciding whether barriers should be installed: traffic volume versus the median width, and the ratio of cross-median accidents.

“Either one or both of these . . . when satisfied and supported by an engineering study, would justify the installation of a median barrier,” he said.

But, Nguyen adds, some highways are actually safer without concrete barriers because the wall becomes a fixed object that invariably will be hit by an errant driver.

Without such barriers, he said, drivers have more time to recover from a potential accident.

For these reasons, Nguyen said, concrete barriers at those two locations are not warranted.