Big Trucks Blur Lines of Travel

Dear Traffic Talk:

I live on Sunland Boulevard in Sun Valley. Tuxford Street, turning north on Roscoe Boulevard, is a very bad situation. The traffic lanes are hardly visible, and there are potholes. Please, please help. I am a senior citizen, so please tell me what can be done to make my driving more pleasant.

--Lalu Mansukhani

Sun Valley

Dear Lalu:

Sediment from nearby gravel and asphalt plants and the weight of heavy trucks wear down the striping along Tuxford and nearby streets, according to Irwin Chodash, an engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Transportation.

“We’re aware of the situation,” Chodash said. “We always repaint the lanes out there, but they only last a few months because of the heavy use of the street. Striping usually lasts a few years.”

City officials may install ceramic buttons to mark the lanes, such as the kind found on freeways.

As for the potholes, the Los Angeles Bureau of Street Services has been notified and repairs requested. Expect a smoother ride soon.

Dear Traffic Talk:

Chandler Boulevard, which runs east and west in North Hollywood and Van Nuys, is essentially two parallel one-way streets with an island that used to be a train line between them.

When I make a left from Chandler onto Colfax Avenue, Laurel Canyon Boulevard, Whitsett Avenue or Coldwater Canyon Avenue, I turn into a break in the island and wait until the light turns green to continue forward across the oncoming traffic lane.

I often see other drivers just driving through without waiting there. Is this legal? Is that area considered an intersection, thus obligating drivers to go through if there is no oncoming traffic?

--Clifford J. Tasner

North Hollywood

Dear Clifford:

You’re doing the right thing by waiting for the light to turn green, according to Chodash. It is illegal to drive through the red lights at those intersections, and those who don’t stop could be ticketed.

Dear Traffic Talk:

I need to know if it is permissible to stop in a red zone to deposit mail in a curbside mailbox. Almost all of these mailboxes are located at curbs that have red striping. Sometimes it is a long walk to get to these mailboxes.

--Florence Bloom

North Hills

Dear Florence:

It looks like you’re going to have to walk to the mailbox.

No, you may not stop in a red zone to use a mailbox, according to Officer Lou Aviles, spokesman for the California Highway Patrol. You may, however, stop in a white zone to deposit your mail, he said.

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Traffic Talk appears Fridays in The Times Valley Edition. Readers may submit comments and questions about traffic in the Valley to Traffic Talk, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311. Include your name, address and phone number. Letters may be edited, and no anonymous letters will be accepted. Fax letters to (818) 772-3385. E-mail questions to valley.news@latimes.com