Solo Drivers Pressured to Change Ways for Cleaner Air

Dear Street Smart:

During the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, officials requested that people minimize driving to prevent traffic jams. Cooperation was amazing.

Why not start a campaign against unnecessary everyday driving? How much auto travel could be eliminated--10%, 20%, 30%? Such a campaign would reduce traffic congestion, accident injuries and deaths, fuel consumption and auto repairs and maybe make driving a pleasure again.

George E. Hoedinghaus, Corona del Mar

Environmentalists and air quality officials have already been pushing for a reduction in unnecessary driving as a way to save energy and clean the air. Using the telephone and combining errands are touted as ways to keep the car in the garage more often.

But cutting road trips a la the Olympics was a radical response to a well-understood and effective motivator: utter fear.

Anyone who lived in Southern California at the time will recall the dire predictions of freeway gridlock. Those doomsday forecasts hit home, and drivers found ways to stay off the road.

“People were willing to do it because they were so scared of the traffic,” said Elizabeth Richards, who oversees commuting programs for the Orange County Transportation Authority.

During the Olympics, people took vacations, companies went on four-day work weeks and some trucks made night deliveries, to name just a few of the many ways in which traffic was reduced. But over the long haul, people and companies are unable or unwilling to endure such hardships, Richards and other commute managers say.

That’s not to say that changes are not happening. If the “green” trend continues, as evidenced by canvas shopping bags and paper boxes at McDonald’s, perhaps people will feel pressure to use their cars less often.

Other, more tangible influences are also working to change our behavior.

For one, the South Coast Air Quality Management District is requiring businesses of 100 people or more to reduce employee driving. To meet the AQMD’s mandates and escape fines, companies are arranging van pools, ride-share programs, telecommuting and compressed workweek schedules for their employees.

For another, freeway congestion may finally be turning drivers toward alternatives. One indicator is that the county transportation agency now arranges about three times as many car pools as it did five years ago, according to according to OCTA’s Richards.

Likewise, the early morning commuter train that was added just over a year ago had its best month in August, with about 6,000 people traveling up to Los Angeles and back, according to the OCTA.

Officials are looking for more converts to the cause with California Ride Share Week, which begins today. Up and down the state, solo drivers are being asked to change their ways. The message: Travel with a buddy, or find another way to work instead of driving. Tuesday itself is Ride Share Day.

For ride-sharing information, call the Orange County Transportation District (714) 636-RIDE. In the spirit of things, Street Smart will even pledge to give it a go. Look for a report next week.

Dear Street Smart:

Is it legal for a motorcyclist to ride between lanes? Legal or not, since it’s obviously a dangerous practice, are motorcyclists presumed to be at fault if they’re in an accident under those circumstances? And if there’s room for a motorcyclist to ride between cars, doesn’t it follow that there’s room for cars in adjoining lanes to pass a motorcycle in between them?

L. Diamond, Los Alamitos

There’s no law against motorcycles “lane-splitting” between cars during stalled traffic, according to California Highway Patrol officer Angel Johnson. Nor by any means are motorcyclists automatically blamed if an accident results while the rider is lane-splitting, she said.

Motorcyclists who speed along between cars at an unsafe speed stand a good chance of being blamed for an accident, Johnson said. But if they are cut off by a car driver, that motorist may be at fault.

Motorcyclists who lane-split in slow traffic need to go slow themselves, Johnson advised. “These guys just cannot split lanes at 40 to 50 m.p.h. in stop-and-go traffic. That’s totally insane,” she said.

A speed of 5 to 10 m.p.h would be best, she recommended.

Meanwhile, drivers should maintain position in their lanes. Moving right to leave more room for a motorcyclist might cut off another motorcyclist or car on the right side, Johnson said. And, of course, moving to block the motorcyclist is clearly illegal.

“If an accident results because a person is trying to cut the motorcyclist off,” Johnson said, “that would be considered assault with a deadly weapon.”

Finally, cars can certainly pass motorcyclists that are lane-splitting. But generally, this never occurs. Motorcyclists lane-split in stalled traffic. When traffic is moving, they generally stay in one lane, just as a car would, Johnson said.

Dear Street Smart:

I read with amusement your direction to a reader complaining about traffic backups on Slater Avenue. You advised him to try Talbert or Warner avenues, “both of which have left-turn signals.” Warner has turn signals, but Talbert has none. Turning from Talbert onto Beach Boulevard is an exercise in frustration. At busy times, it can take from three to four light changes to make that turn going east or west from Talbert onto Beach

Evelyn Suskin, Westminster

Color Street Smart purple in embarrassment for the mistake! Sounds like the super-street project will bring signals to that area none to soon.