Pedestrians Not Just Getting a Line on Crosswalk Safety

Dear Street Smart:

I walk a lot because I don’t have a car. Lately, I’ve noticed a couple of changes to some of the crosswalks along Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

It seems as if the traffic people built stoplights at Pierce Arrow Avenue and Marmon Avenue without adding crosswalks. This concerns me.

Why are there no crosswalks at these two corners when the city has gone to all the trouble of adding new signals?

Isabel Valdivia

Thousand Oaks

Dear Reader:

Believe it or not, pedestrians are much safer crossing a street where there is no crosswalk. As a result, transportation planners in Thousand Oaks are trying a new tack in crosswalk management.

Out are the foot-wide stripes. In is a single, 12-inch line that designates where cars should stop. The signal will still have a push-button that activates an illuminated WALK sign, however.

According to numerous reports, pedestrians are twice as likely to get hit by a passing car when they are crossing a street that has painted crosswalks at the corner.

“People will step into a marked crosswalk without really checking both ways because they feel safer,” Thousand Oaks traffic analyst Jeff Knowles said.

Knowles said he will continue using the new crosswalk strategy as other signals are installed throughout his city.

“Unless we observe any kind of a problem, we believe this will result in much safer conditions for the pedestrian,” he said.

Dear Street Smart:

I live on Jordan Avenue in midtown Ventura and am concerned about the intersection at the corner of Jordan and Ocean avenues.

Whenever I’m turning right onto Ocean Avenue to get to Seaward Avenue, it’s a blind curve. This concerns me because I’ve nearly been killed three times.

You have to pull clear into the street to see if there are any oncoming vehicles, and obviously by that time, it’s too late.

Is it possible to put a stop sign there or some other traffic-control device to make the intersection at Ocean and Jordan avenues safer?

Xan Bernay

Ventura

Dear Reader:

Your concern is a new one for Ventura traffic officials, who said they often rely on tips like yours to hear about potential problems along their streets and corners.

“We’ve not had anyone bring this to our attention, so we’ll certainly take a look at it,” said Nazir Lalani, Ventura’s top traffic engineer. “It’s an unusually wide intersection, so maybe we can do something.”

Lalani said his crew would be out to study the intersection, probably as soon as this week. If a stop sign is indeed warranted, that would take another month or so to install, he said.

Dear Street Smart:

What’s going on with the Ventura Freeway as it crosses from Santa Barbara County into Ventura County?

For years, there were three lanes heading south from Carpinteria to La Conchita--I know because I often drive between Ventura and Santa Barbara.

Now there are just two lanes because someone painted over the right lane, and driving there is no longer allowed. Traffic gets backed up at the county line, especially on weekends and the afternoon.

Whose brilliant decision was it to paint over the right lane as you’re heading back to Ventura on the freeway?

Rebecca Nagel

Ventura

Dear Reader:

Thousands of cars travel that stretch of freeway every day, many of them jockeying for position just north of the Ventura-Santa Barbara county line, state Department of Transportation officials said.

The right lane was eliminated earlier this year in an effort to cut down on some of the merging that occurs at that point, said Orville Morgan, chief of maintenance and operations at the District 5 Caltrans office in San Luis Obispo.

“The merging seems to actually slow traffic down,” Morgan said. “With just two lanes, we’re hoping that the overall traffic flow will increase.”

The prohibition is basically an experiment, however.

“If it ends up making things worse, we’ll go back to the way it was,” Morgan said. “But we’ll have to wait through the summer months to really see how it works.”

Write to Street Smart, The Times Ventura County Edition, 93 S. Chestnut St., Ventura 93001. You may enclose a simple sketch if it will help Street Smart understand your traffic questions. Or call our Sound Off Line, 653-7546. Whether writing or calling, include your full name, address, and day and evening phone numbers. No anonymous queries will be accepted, and letters are subject to editing.