High-Tech Traffic Gadgets

Your article on all the high-tech gadgetry that keeps L.A.’s traffic on the go was most enlightening (March 19). It seems that L.A.’s street wizards have left no avenue unexplored in their quest for more efficient traffic flow. However, they haven’t tried to make a left turn in the face of multiple lanes of oncoming traffic at any of the many intersections in Los Angeles that still lack left-turn signals.

I know these quaint traffic-control devices do not get the high-tech juices flowing. But they sure use light effectively to unsnarl the mess that pervades in many congested intersections.

Maybe if left-turn signals were redubbed “photon-based intersection through-put enhancers” they would attract more attention from our technology-besotted traffic engineers.

STEVE SHENDER

Marina del Rey

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The article on traffic engineers implies that their goal is to keep traffic moving, yet the gist of the article deals with their efforts to further retard it. You’d think with all this high-tech equipment that they would also synchronize lights to keep traffic flowing rather than the constant stop-and-go patterns that plague far too many streets.

RICK MITCHELL

Los Angeles

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I am a member of the Boyle Heights Neighbors’ Organization. On March 4, we invited Tom Conner, general manager of the Department of Transportation, to our monthly meeting. Members of our organization collected more than 600 signatures requesting a signal light at 1st and Breed streets in Boyle Heights. We learned from Conner that another possible solution to our safety concern is the installation of a “smart crosswalk,” a flashing yellow light activated by pedestrians stepping onto the curb.

Your article mentioned the installation of the city’s first smart crosswalk at an intersection in Sun Valley and that soon another would follow in Highland Park. Last year, the intersection in Highland Park was the site of a tragic accident involving a little boy. Similarly, the intersection in Sun Valley was the site of a hit-and-run accident resulting in critical injuries to a woman and child.

Conner agreed to notify us if our intersection met the criteria for a smart crosswalk. We only hope that a tragic accident is not a prerequisite for the installation of a smart crosswalk.

MARIA QUEZADA

Los Angeles