Dangerous Commute

I have been driving “the back way” from Camarillo to Port Hueneme for nine years. I travel what is commonly referred to as the Pleasant Valley route, although part of the commute is actually along 5th Street.

During these nine years, I have concluded that to drive the posted speed limit (currently 50 mph, recently raised from 45) or, worse, to be the poor guy moving farm equipment from one field to another, is to be a deadly road hazard.

Last week, almost directly in front of me, it happened again. A car passing a long line of non-speeders caused an accident. This time an 18-year-old woman went into the hospital in critical condition while her 19-year-old passenger miraculously escaped with only minor injuries. Last time, a man who hit a pole was not so lucky.

If you travel the posted speed limit, you will be passed by 90% of the drivers behind you. Not all of them are skilled at doing so. I regularly have to swerve, pull off the road or hit my brakes to avoid oncoming passing cars or to permit a not-so-skilled passer to get by me.

Something must be done about the Pleasant Valley and 5th Street passing problem. I don’t pretend to know the solution, but I do know that we must at least consider some options: Raise the speed limit, add more signal lights with passing lanes, add more lanes, increase patrols, even turn these stretches of road into well-known “speed traps.”

There is a serious problem along these roads that contributes to the deaths and injuries of people every year. As the mother of an 18-year-old woman myself, I am heartbroken that something hasn’t been done already. We must do something to prevent the next tragedy, which is most certainly inevitable under the current circumstances.

NANCY SIMMONS, Camarillo