A Case of the Road Driving the Vehicle

Dear Street Smart:

I read that a highway test is being performed on Interstate 15 north of San Diego. The name of the group involved is the National Automated Highway Consortium. This is about automated vehicles with intelligent cruise control, and the drivers do not have to “drive” the cars. Do you know anything about this test?

Charlotte Hageback

Costa Mesa

The test ran for about a week last summer along a 7.6-mile stretch of a carpool lane on Interstate 15 slicing northeast from San Diego. The idea was to demonstrate an automated technology that uses computers and magnets to keep even-paced cars on the road traveling at high speeds, leaving their occupants free to do anything from reading newspapers to building airplane models. The program’s 10 Buick LeSabres logged more than 5,000 miles of automated travel, mostly in convoy 12 feet apart at 65 mph.

Technologically, the test was a success. In terms of social policy, however, it may have been a last hurrah. Late last year, the federal government, which had financed the demonstration, withdrew its support.

“There’s been a change in emphasis,” said Ray Starsman, a spokesman for the Intelligent Transportation Society of America.

The government’s current focus is on automating cars rather than highways, Starsman said. Among improvements being considered are automated systems for avoiding collisions, finding your way and notifying authorities when accidents occur.

Dear Street Smart:

I have been noticing many overhead freeway signs that are not lighted at night. They have lights mounted in them, but the same signs never come on. Usually these are the ones with a list of upcoming exits ahead, but not always.

I can understand the ones that are out around construction zones because of rerouting electrical conduits and such, but why so many others? The freeway on which I notice this the most is the 57 in both directions. Why is it so hard to keep the lights maintained?

John Rietveld

Fullerton

The unlighted signs you are noticing are kept that way on purpose.

There are two types of signs on Orange County freeways, a Caltrans spokeswoman said. Directional signs tell drivers which way to go--”use right lane,” for instance, or “exit here for Fullerton.” Informational signs, on the other hand, simply inform motorists of upcoming exits, such as “Beach Boulevard, 3 miles.”

Caltrans workers inspect freeways nightly for unlighted signs. If a sign is directional, they replace burned-out bulbs as soon as possible. That means immediately if a hazard exists. If not, they might wait to do it in conjunction with other projects requiring the road to be closed.

Informational signs are another matter. For the last four years, spokeswoman Pam Gorniak said, Caltrans has had a policy of keeping them unlighted to conserve energy. “Those signs are also reflective,” she said, “and sometimes headlights hitting them will light them enough.” My thought: infrared goggles would probably help more.

*

And finally--potential legislative relief for the state’s overburdened 911 system. Assemblywoman Helen Thomson (D-Davis) has introduced a bill to help ease the burden on the state’s emergency telephone system caused by the increasing number of motorists calling 911 from their cellular phones. Statewide, more than 3 million such calls were made last year.

The problem is that most of those calls are answered by the California Highway Patrol, then rerouted to appropriate local agencies. The CHP doesn’t have the personnel to handle all those calls. Five to 10 operators in Orange County field more than 400 cellular 911 calls a day, in addition to at least 300 more from roadside call boxes. One result has been more than a doubling of overtime for CHP personnel since 1992.

Thomson’s bill would put in place a process by which 911 calls would be routed directly to the appropriate local law enforcement agency or paramedic unit through the cooperative efforts of the agencies involved.

The measure is scheduled to be heard today by the Assembly Committee on Utilities and Commerce.

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. Letters may be published in upcoming columns. Please write to David Haldane, c/o Street Smart, The Times Orange County Edition, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, send faxes to (714) 966-7711 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.