Some Drivers Just Can’t Get Over the Hump

Dear Traffic Talk:

I was amazed yesterday to find five speed humps installed in Woodland Hills on a very short distance of Oxnard Street between Manton Avenue and Woodlake Avenue.

What the department should have done years ago was fix the potholes on this stretch of road. What they have done instead is effectively convert a public street into a private roadway.

What is the process for getting speed humps installed in a specific neighborhood?

Hal Landy

Woodland Hills

Dear Hal:

According to Ken Bernstein, planning and transportation deputy for Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick, the process begins with area residents who apply for a Department of Transportation speed hump program petition packet.

If enough residents say they are concerned about traffic speeds in a neighborhood, the department conducts a neighborhood traffic survey to determine if the area meets the necessary conditions to install speed humps.

The specifications include a road that is not too narrow or bumpy.

Streets being considered for speed humps have to be straight and fairly flat surfaces and the area speed limit should be less than 30 mph, Bernstein said.

The Department of Transportation and city planners had previously classified Oxnard Street as a secondary highway, but Bernstein said residents complained that the traffic was too fast for a single-family residential neighborhood.

Councilwoman Chick said that the neighborhood needed something to limit the high speeds of drivers funneling out of Warner Center.

Residents had also complained about a high number of accidents and animals being hit by fast-moving cars.

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Dear Traffic Talk:

Almost every day this month, the California Highway Patrol has positioned a squad of motorcycle officers on the northbound San Diego Freeway at Roscoe Boulevard. They are quite obvious to traffic--with their perch in the center divider--and it makes it all the easier for them to spot diamond-lane cheaters at rush hour.

There is a tremendous “looky-loo” effect that causes a backup and a rather needless 10- to 15-minute delay all the way south to Burbank Boulevard.

How about redeploying these four to six officers to patrol up and down the carpool lane?

I’d think the officers would catch just as many this way.

Barry Cook

Newhall

Dear Barry:

According to California Highway Patrol Officer Evan Robinson, patrol officers make their presence known to create a sense of visual awareness among drivers.

Robinson said that when drivers see a patrol officer it has the effect on reducing the number of traffic accidents on the freeway.

Robinson also said that a clear visual presence during rush hours deters solo drivers from entering the carpool lanes and prevents drivers from crossing over the double yellow lines to enter or leave the carpool lanes illegally.

And although drivers tend to slow down to observe the officers, Robinson said the slower traffic also reduces the number of violations by having the officers there.

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