Driver Feels Shoehorned by Two Foothills

Dear Traffic Talk,

There is a really tricky intersection with which we have had a lot of close calls. It’s at Foothill Boulevard and Pali Avenue in Tujunga.

Foothill Boulevard and Foothill Drive both run east-west and parallel one another, with the latter located to the north. Pali runs north-south and crosses both streets.

The problem is that there are literally only a few feet of space on Pali between the two Foothills. It’s really dangerous to make the transition from one to the other because Pali has no stop signs and the right of way is really unclear.

This is the site of a typical accident in our neighborhood. Could you check it out?

David and Julianna Rowe

Tujunga

Dear David and Julianna,

I’m sorry to report that a Department of Transportation engineer found no problems at Foothill and Pali upon observation of that intersection.

It is clear that left-turners onto Foothill Drive must yield the right of way to southbound Pali Avenue traffic, said Irwin Chodash, engineer for the department in the East Valley.

Visibility is excellent there, Chodash said, and because there is already a light at Foothill Boulevard, there is no need to install another traffic signal or stop sign at Foothill Drive.

An accident survey of that area also failed to turn up a pattern of accidents there related to turns and visibility problems between the two Foothills, Chodash said.

Dear Traffic Talk,

My husband and I have driven in the states of Washington, Oregon, Florida and South Carolina. We have taken particular notice of the timing for left-turn signals and the lack of drivers jumping red lights.

We came to the conclusion that the reason for this is that their left-turn signals allow from six to 10 cars to go through the signal before it turns yellow.

Yesterday, I wanted to make a left turn on Burbank Boulevard at Valley Circle Boulevard going south to the freeway. I was the fifth car in the lane.

When the light changed to green two cars went through before the light turned yellow, at which point the third car went through and a fourth jumped the red light. I had to wait for the next signal.

Why don’t we have more time to turn? No wonder our drivers are so impatient. Drivers are constantly going through red lights. What can be done about this?

Bertha Lasky

West Hills

Dear Bertha,

The Department of Transportation has a system for figuring out how long the cycles of left-turn lights should be. Studying each direction of traffic flow at an intersection, department officials figure out the average number of turners and cycles per hour and the number of drivers per cycle. From this, they determine the most efficient length of time for left-turn signals.

Admitting that it may have been several years since the timing of the lights at that intersection had been studied, Brian Gallagher, a transportation engineer with the department, checked it out and found that the timers were malfunctioning, allowing just five seconds for each left turn cycle rather than the allotted 12 seconds.

“Someone who drives through there every day would definitely notice the problem,” he said.

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