3 New Traffic Lights Expected to Aid Flow

In an effort to reduce accidents and aid traffic flow, the city has replaced three stop signs with traffic signals.

The affected intersections are Moorpark Road at the Thousand Oaks High School driveway, Pederson and Olsen roads, and Windsor Drive and Janss Road.

The signals, each costing about $100,000, are part of a larger city plan from the early 1970s to install signals at 130 intersections. One hundred signals have been installed, with three to five going up each year, said John Helliwell, the city’s traffic engineer.

“Safety is the No. 1 reason,” Helliwell said. “No. 2 is efficiency and traffic flow. This means reducing the delays, letting people get through an intersection and onto the roads efficiently, and reducing accidents.”

So far, people are using the signals properly and Helliwell hasn’t heard about any accidents or problems, he said. Thousand Oaks High School Principal Jo-Ann Yoos says the change near the school was needed.

“Almost every year I’ve been here, there’s been an accident there,” said Yoos, who has been with the school for four years. “We’ve had kids or other people trying to pull out and misjudge oncoming traffic.”

And she has seen the benefits of the signals firsthand.

“It’s really assisted us in exiting our property when we have large events when there is a lot of traffic in the back of our building,” she said.

Later this year, signals will be installed at the intersection of the Newbury Park High School driveway and Reino Road, and the Ventu Park Road offramp to the Ventura Freeway, he said.

“The idea is not to have a signal at every intersection but to maximize safety at the important ones,” Helliwell said.