Speed Is Out of Place in the Conejo Grade’s Slow Lanes

Dear Street Smart:

I drive a recent model, three-cylinder subcompact. It easily goes 65 mph on level roads.

But going up the Conejo Grade requires dropping into a lower gear, with 55 mph the most comfortable speed. I usually travel in the second lane from the right, the right lane normally occupied by trucks going 15 to 35 mph.

My concern is those drivers who are still traveling 65 to 75 mph who use this far right lane. They roar up it until they come up behind one of the slow-moving trucks, and then cut in front of the vehicles in the next lane over.

I have had to slow down and, on a couple of occasions, brake to avoid being struck.

John Snyder

Newbury Park

Dear Reader:

Pity they don’t give out congressional medals for courage at the wheel. Three-cylinder grade-warriors like you might be first in line. Sadly, experts offer no easy cure for your fears.

Speed demons trying to dodge the pack do indeed scream up the southbound right-hand lanes of the grade until an asthmatic Chevette or 10 tons of slow-moving lemons force them to merge with the masses.

Some criminals--and they are indeed breaking the law--even risk their lives and yours by passing the pack on the right shoulder, says CHP Officer Dave Cockrill.

“It is a violation, and if they don’t have good visibility on what’s ahead of them, they could come up on a stalled or parked vehicle, and there would be an accident,” Cockrill says.

Yahoos who survive this foolish stunt face traffic tickets for excessive speed, unsafe lane changes and a host of other costly violations.

For those of us who admit we are mortal and can’t afford fire-breathing, V-10 buzz bombs, the CHP advises: Stay to the right if the grade slows you down, and put a “safety cushion” of space between you and other vehicles. And keep eyeballing those mirrors.

Dear Street Smart: I’m concerned about my safety and that of other pedestrians crossing at the intersection of Victoria Avenue and Channel Islands Boulevard.

Pedestrians crossing from east to west in the north crosswalk do not have sufficient time to reach the sidewalk.

The problem is that the traffic light will change to red before a pedestrian--walking normally--reaches the west side of the crosswalk, even though that pedestrian starts walking as soon as the light changes to green.

Bill Hilfer

Oxnard

Dear Reader:

Right you are. The light’s too short, says Oxnard traffic engineer Joe Genovese, after learning of your letter.

By the time you read this, he and his crew plan to have readjusted the timing so that the “Walk” light lasts another four seconds--long enough for pedestrians to cross safely at something slower than a headlong sprint.

But you may also notice other changes to the light sequences along Victoria as a result, he said. Because the lights are all timed to feed traffic smoothly along Victoria, they are all linked. Stretching the time on one puts the other walk lights out of sync.

So, Genovese says that either all the walk lights on Victoria will last an extra four seconds, or the lone, lengthened Channel Islands walk light will leave the other traffic signals out of sync for cars, he says.

Carry a stopwatch, and you will learn exactly which fix the engineers used.

And if you ever have a complaint about street-light malfunctions, Genovese says, call the Oxnard Public Works Department at 385-7866.

Dear Street Smart:

Near the area of New L.A. Avenue and the Ronald Reagan Freeway in Moorpark, there are at least three grates that cover the openings in storm drains. They all have grating running in one direction only--parallel to the direction of traffic.

This presents a serious hazard: a bicyclist must swerve into traffic, or face the consequence of having a front wheel fall into the opening. This will result in a crash, with the probability of the bicyclist falling over into the traffic lane.

Installing grates with cross-ribs to prevent a bike tire from falling between them seems to be such a simple solution, preventing what could easily cause someone’s death.

But two calls to Caltrans six months ago have not resulted in any action, even though they recently performed road work in this area.

Kevin J. Wells

Ventura

Dear Reader:

Your humble Street Smart writer spends nearly as much time pedaling two wheels as he does driving four, and he vividly recalls disagreements with similar drains that almost forced him to chew pavement. So he was keenly interested in Caltrans’ response to your query:

In the past, Caltrans has defanged parallel-running drains for cyclists by either installing horizontal bars or replacing the grates with safer models, and the department may be able to do the same this time, said Caltrans spokesman Rick Holland.

Holland said that state maintenance workers will inspect the grates you mention “as soon as possible, and if something needs to be done, we’ll definitely make the corrections.”

Miffed? Baffled? Peeved? Or merely perplexed? Street Smart can answer your most probing questions about the joys and horrors of driving around Ventura County. Write to: Street Smart, c/o Mack Reed, Los Angeles Times Ventura County Edition, 1445 Los Angeles Ave., Room 208, Simi Valley, 93065. Include a simple sketch if needed to help explain your question. Or call our Sound Off line, 653-7546. In either case, include your full name, address and day and evening phone numbers. Street Smart cannot answer anonymous queries, and letters are subject to editing.