2 Crosswalks Remain at Intersection for Safety Reasons

Dear Street Smart:

A while back a reader made a suggestion in your column to allow two lanes of traffic to turn left from eastbound Laguna Hills Drive onto northbound Paseo de Valencia. In the response to that letter, it was mentioned that the city of Laguna Hills decided to take that recommended course of action and that the redesigned intersection would have just one crosswalk across Paseo de Valencia on the south side of the intersection.

Well, as of this date, the two left turn lanes have been delivered as promised, but crosswalks still remain on each side of Laguna Hills Drive. If there are pedestrians in each crosswalk, cross traffic on Paseo de Valencia must first wait to allow pedestrians to cross on the north side of the intersection when Stockport Street has an exclusive green light. Then motorists must wait for more pedestrians to cross on the south side of the intersection when Laguna Hills Drive has an exclusive green light.

It seems to me that the crosswalk on the north side of the intersection should be removed. Stockport Street has very little automobile traffic, and a long green light to allow pedestrians to cross there is effectively wasted.

David Kalish, Laguna Niguel

Dear Reader:

County traffic engineer Ignacio Ochoa agrees with you that, from a capacity standpoint, it would be much better if traffic were unimpeded to northbound Paseo de Valencia. But from a pedestrian safety standpoint, the crosswalk on the north side of Laguna Hills Drive must remain, at least for the time being.

The city of Laguna Hills shares the four-way intersection with the county, but has contracted with the county to handle the signal work and crossings there, Ochoa said. After monitoring traffic patterns at the intersection, the crosswalk was originally removed and the second lane on Laguna Hills Drive was modified to accommodate through and left-turn traffic onto Paseo de Valencia, he said.

But people from a nearby apartment complex were so accustomed to crossing at this location to get to the bus stop on the north side of Paseo de Valencia that they continued to do so even after the crosswalk was removed.

“We asked ourselves, ‘Do we put up pedestrian barricades so they are physically forced to use the other crosswalk?’ ” Ochoa said. “But it’s difficult to change . . . people’s habits, so we thought, in the interest of safety, we’d restore the crosswalk.”

And they did. The county and the Orange County Transportation Authority are now discussing the possibility of relocating the bus stop so pedestrians can reach it more conveniently. But no decision has been reached.

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Dear Street Smart:

I am a motorcyclist with a traffic light problem. When I’m stopped at an intersection on the sensor, it will not change the traffic light for my direction from red to green.

Usually, I must wait for a car to pull up behind me or in the lane next to mine to trigger the sensor and change the light.

My guess is that a certain amount of metallic mass must be present over the sensor before it senses that traffic is present. A motorcycle apparently doesn’t meet that requirement.

There are many intersections throughout Orange County where I encounter this problem. One that comes to mind is the left turn lanes of southbound Tustin Avenue at 17th Street in Santa Ana.

Is there some way that these sensors can be adjusted or replaced so that they are more sensitive?

Chris Golianis, Tustin

Dear Reader:

You’re right that turn signal sensors react to metal mass, but weight or a certain amount of metal in a vehicle should not play a part in activating a turn signal, said Naiim Khoury, engineering technician for Santa Ana. Even a bicycle should trigger the signal, he said.

As in the case of the turn signal from southbound Tustin Avenue onto 17th Street, square-shaped sensor plates are placed in the middle of each lane. Embedded in these squares is very thin wire that should detect any vehicle’s presence, Khoury said. However, if a vehicle is driving on the white or yellow lines, the sensor will not activate, he said.

Street workers will examine the Tustin Avenue and 17th Street intersection to see if the sensors there are malfunctioning, Khoury said.

If you are encountering the same problem countywide, you may want to contact the traffic engineering departments of individual cities.