Vehicle Safety Checks Wouldn’t Necessarily Save Lives
Dear Street Smart:
Our hours of travel to and from work are at peak traffic times, and since the time change in October, the time to travel home is during dark hours. We notice many cars with only one headlight, burned-out taillights, maladjusted headlights, headlights on high beam or turn signals not working.
Isn’t it time that California had an annual automobile safety inspection? The states that require safety inspections require it annually before new licensing is issued. California could require the safety inspection along with the smog certificate. Surely this isn’t the first time this has been suggested.
Any suggestions other than adjusting the rear-view mirror when being followed by high beams? This still doesn’t affect the outside mirror reflection. Any suggestions when approaching blinding high beams?
Bill and Janet Adams
Orange
You’re right about one thing--this isn’t the first time annual safety inspections have been suggested. But the idea has been rejected by many states, including California, because there is no clear-cut statistical evidence it would save lives, said Paul Snodgrass, a highway safety specialist with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
This has been especially true since the 1960s, he said, when federal standards were imposed on automobile manufacturers to assure that major mechanical systems are safe. “When’s the last time you heard of an accident caused by a blowout or a complete brake failure?” Snodgrass asked. “These are not biggies.”
The more mundane problems you mention, such as burned-out bulbs or lights that are not aimed properly, generally do not cause major accidents, Snodgrass said. Police and the CHP do sometimes give fix-it tickets when they spot cars with those problems.
Most states that require annual safety inspections, he said, are in the East, where traffic safety problems date from the 1920s and 1930s, long before the enactment of federal standards. The requirements remain, Snodgrass said, out of tradition.
As to what you can do when being followed by a car with its high beams on, CHP spokesman Kent Milton suggests pulling over and letting it pass.
“The temptation to do something for retribution should be avoided,” he said.
Drivers being approached by high beams should try to avoid the glare by looking to the right side of the road.
“You can’t completely escape it,” he said, “but you can divert your eyes in a way that you don’t take that massive glare.”
While many drivers flash their own high beams to signal oncoming cars to lower theirs, Milton recommends against it.
“Even if you throw on your high beam for only a second,” he said, “you are in violation of the law” as well as in danger of blinding the other driver.
Dear Street Smart:
I use the 91 Express Lanes on a regular basis. I was traveling east one evening when I noticed a message on the electronic freeway sign: “Accident at Coal Canyon.” The message did not state whether the accident was in the toll road or in the mainline of the freeway.
Of course, I chose the wrong route and took the Express Lanes, where the accident was. So there I was, $2.85 poorer and watching everyone else pass me by.
When I called the operators of the 91 Express Lanes, they were very helpful and told me that Caltrans is in charge of these signs. They also credited my account for the toll.
What is Caltrans’ policy on putting messages out, and can’t they be a bit more descriptive? I know they have the room on the signs to add more characters, because they have plenty for all the Express Lanes advertising that’s displayed.
Craig Holland
Temecula
The purpose of those signs is to give as much information to drivers as possible so they can take alternative routes, Caltrans spokeswoman Maureena Duran-Rojas said.
CHP officers and Caltrans workers dispatched to the scene initially gather the information. They convey it to Caltrans staffers at the Traffic Management Center in Santa Ana, Duran-Rojas said. The staffers type in the messages displayed on the signs.
She attributed the lack of information on the day in question to human error.
“It would have been good if they had indicated where the accident was so that people could have stayed out of the toll lane and gone into the free lane,” she said.
Dear Street Smart:
It has always been my understanding that a right turn on red, after a full stop, is allowed only when you’re in the curb lane turning into the curb lane.
Every day, I turn right from Rockfield Boulevard onto Lake Forest Drive in Lake Forest. At this point, there are two designated right-turn lanes. I’m usually in the left of the two lanes, as the right (curb) lane goes directly onto an Interstate 5 entrance ramp.
As I am not in the curb lane, I don’t even make an attempt to turn right on red. This seems to disturb the people behind me.
So, if I’m in a right-turn-only lane, does California law allow me to turn right on red even though I’m not turning from curb lane to curb lane?
Howard S. Domeseck
Las Flores
Yes it does, which would explain the irritation of the drivers behind you. The only exceptions, said CHP spokeswoman Anne Richards, are at intersections where there are signs prohibiting right turns on red.
Here is a footnote that might give you some comfort, however. While the law says that you “may” turn right at a red light, it does not say that you must.
So, despite the honks of the cars behind you, you are within your legal rights to sit at the intersection until the light turns green.
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. Include simple sketches if helpful. 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.
