Freeway Lanes, Ramps Keep Wayward Drivers in Line

It’s so tempting.

Those white and yellow lines on the freeway? What if you just ignored them when no one else was around?

After all, it’s not like painted lines a few microns thick can actually stop you from driving two tons of steel wherever the heck you want on an empty road.

Think about cackling madly on a dark, deserted California 118 as you veer from shoulder to shoulder at 110 mph, your butt sliding back and forth across the seat to the hooky little beat of that song your mom hated so much.

Imagine slaloming through the Bott’s dots on your way down the Conejo Grade, cruising in the left lane of the Maricopa Highway as if it were Britain’s M1 or simply doing doughnuts on the PCH until you get dizzy and plunge into the sea.

Consider getting professional help if you have tried even one of these sick fantasies. The lines were painted for a reason, namely to keep you out of hospitals, jails and graveyards.

They are meant to protect you from each other.

It’s not the lines themselves that keep Ventura’s dizzying Five Points intersection or California 126 from going Demolition Derby on you.

It’s the way people treat the lines.

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Dear Street Smart:

My daily commute to Ventura from the Saticoy area involves using the Wells Road bridge over California 126, and the onramp to the westbound lanes of the freeway.

Sometimes, I hold my breath waiting to get into the traffic lane from the ramp, because a lot of people come through there--pardon the expression--like a bat out of hell.

I slow down waiting for some kind person--the likes of whom are few and far between, and otherwise uneducated about road signs. Then cars behind me start honking.

What is the best way to do this? Who has the right of way? Could something be done before an accident happens?

Jean Nussman, Ventura

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Dear Reader:

Onramps and offramps are the ugly offspring of freeways and surface streets--the twisted genetic freaks that result from the blending of two wildly differing species of road.

Yet we need them desperately, because they are the only ties between the two ways of travel. And we must treat them with respect when we merge at rush hour in our dicey daily dance with disaster, because they represent the unbridled freedom of. . . .

Woof. Mangled those metaphors right quick, didn’t we?

Muchtoomuchcoffee. Start again.

The law says the freeway traffic has the right of way.

Onramp users must signal first, then merge into traffic when it is safe, says California Highway Patrol Officer Michael Condon.

“If you cut someone off, you’re the one who’s at fault because you have to yield,” Condon says. “But out of courtesy, they should let you in.”

The honkers are breaking the law, believe it or not, Condon says. Horns are to be used only in emergency situations, when another driver is about to commit a violation that puts you in danger--such as cutting you off, running a stop sign, etc.

Motor Vehicle Code Section 27001(b) allows only one other use for a horn: as a car alarm, but might just be the subject of a future Street Smart column, depending on the letters we receive.

Police can and will ticket you if you’re just driving down the street honking with no danger in sight--unless, of course, you’re riding in a wedding procession, Condon says. “That would be pretty bad if you cited someone for that,” he says. “You’d have to be pretty desperate.”

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Dear Street Smart:

If the intent of the carpool lanes is to reduce the auto count on the freeways, then the lanes should be restricted to two or more adults, not two or more persons.

An individual driver with a baby in a car seat has done nothing to reduce traffic or smog, and therefore has not earned the benefit of the use of the carpool lane.

Also, those people who do use the carpool lane should learn the meaning of the double-yellow stripes. Carpool lanes are not accessible from any point on the freeway, and neither are they intended for passing lanes. Entry and exit from these lanes are restricted to the portions of the lane that is bordered by a single, broken white line.

Kermit Heid, Moorpark

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Dear Reader:

Excellent point. It’s a silly loophole. Your average 4-year-old child (or 6-month-old infant or 12-year-old vampire) has no power to (legally) reduce pollution or traffic congestion with their own driving habits. So why should their moms and dads get a break?

Some scofflaws try to pass off dogs or department-store dummies as second passengers, says Condon. One pregnant woman argued (unsuccessfully) that she and her fetus counted as two.

And right you are, about the way carpools treat the painted lines:

We often hear complaints that otherwise legal carpool users are drifting over the double-yellow lines whenever the mood takes them--say, to pass a slower moving carpool or just to enter the lane on a whim.

These folks are breaking the law, ticking off fellow motorists and risking a king-size $271 ticket, says Condon. The broken white lines are the only place for legally entering or exiting a carpool lane, he says.

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Dear Street Smart:

I’ve been intending to write you since your column a few weeks ago about bike lanes.

Bike lanes have broken lines before corners, but not all such curb lanes are bicycle lanes. A law which took effect about two years ago makes it legal for cars turning right to travel in these lanes for no more than 200 feet before the turn.

I cannot understand why drivers will not cross this white line to make a turn but will cross double, unbroken lines when it suits their purpose.

Harry Norkin, Thousand Oaks

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Dear Reader:

Depends on where you live.

In fact, Condon says, Section 22211(a) was modified to let motorists use bike lanes only when turning, and only if they yield the right of way to bicyclists.

We cannot understand why drivers near Street Smart’s secret underground hide-out seem to delight in drifting through the white-lined bike lane as if it (and Street Smart) were completely invisible.

But by all rights, a 25-pound bike should not have to swerve in its own lane to dodge a 2,000-pound car. More on that in a special column on bikes, if only our loyal readers will send in questions.

And hey: We’ve had a lot of terrific letters lately. And we’ve tossed a lot of them in the trash because their writers failed to include the information listed below.

If you don’t see your letter in these columns, that’s the leading reason why. And if only shreds of your letter turn up here, you probably let your typewriter run away with itself. Space is limited. Act now.