Trucks Versus Autos on County’s Freeways

I am currently using the freeways between the Mission Viejo area and Claremont, and I am outraged at what is out there: It is a battleground.

While our governing bodies urge us to drive small, fuel-efficient cars, they allow trucks to be as large, long and heavy as they like. There are trucks with three trailers, flat-bed trailers hauling bulldozers large enough to make you paper-thin should they fall on you, and they do not observe the speed limit for trucks or stay in the two right-hand truck lanes. They are a danger to every driver on the freeway. I have never been afraid of trucks before, but I am these days.

In areas where the speed limit is 65, you are lucky if you can keep it down to 70. About one-third of the traffic is going 85 and up, with erratic lane changes that endanger the prudent driver. Maybe those lane-changers know where they are going, but the average driver can’t see them coming and finds it almost impossible to get on and off the freeway safely. The right lane is frequently used for lane changes and speeding excessively.

In the six or seven trips I have made in one week, I have seen one Highway Patrol car. If they would do their jobs, they would have so much money from writing tickets they could hire additional officers. I think they’ve given up and have left the freeways to the traffic. The results are in the papers daily: Accidents with truck involvement are almost a daily event.

NANCY PLESSMAN

Laguna Niguel