Traffic Safety in Orange County
* As far as the safety of the westbound Riverside and northbound Santa Ana freeways interchange, I must disagree with Caltrans spokeswoman Deborah Harris (March 19). I travel north on the Santa Ana Freeway through that spot every day, usually around 2 p.m., when traffic is flowing around 45 mph. The merge and acceleration zone for those coming from the westbound Riverside Freeway to the northbound Santa Ana Freeway is way too short.
Although I get off at the Manchester offramp, 100 yards past the Riverside Freeway ramp, I move to the middle lane to avoid the merging traffic.
If the cars and trucks do follow Caltrans’ recommended 25-mph speed, they are suddenly dumped into much faster traffic once they hit the Santa Ana Freeway lanes. That is the dangerous part of the interchange: the way-too-short merge zone.
ERROL VAN STRALEN
La Mirada
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* At times it seems that road rage is the direct result of drivers’ road rashness, that tendency to race pell-mell from intersection to intersection.
Perhaps the radical solution of setting all traffic lights to permanent red--every intersection requiring every driver to stop every time--would cause motorists to think farther ahead than their hood ornaments.
In the long run, cars might burn less polluting gas and rubber when their drivers calm down to legal speeds, the tendency for high-speed red light-running could diminish, and courtesy would perhaps overtake everyone.
CHUCK BAILEY
Placentia
