Q: Many bike lanes are coated with bright green paint, but I think most drivers don’t have a clue that they are for bicyclists and treat them as lanes for cars. Are the green markings necessary?
Ron Wade, Berkeley
A. Oh my, yes. The green markings are installed at turns to make bicyclists more visible. The National Transportation Safety Board found that “motorists overtaking bicyclists” were by far the leading cause of bike fatalities between 2014 and 2016. In about one-third of cases in which bicyclists died in crashes involving a motor vehicle overtaking a bicycle, the driver reported not seeing the bicyclist before the crash. The green paint should definitely help.
Q: I was deeply disappointed in your two posts about the removal of homeless encampments along Bay Area roads. It is a complex problem involving mental illness, financial misfortune, veterans readjustment and employment issues, drug addiction and consequential frailty, among other things. Your column is simply no place to swipe away the problem with simply “a cleanup is coming” message.
Bob Sutis, Los Altos
A: I understand your point. It is definitely a complex issue. Cleanups are planned but can only take care of part of the problem.
Q: There are three basic things concerning big rigs:
Truck drivers are professionals. The rig is their daily workplace.
There is a great difference in legal speed limits in California, and we see the same motorists repeatedly pass us, sometimes in anger, only for them to exit at the next exit and then to pass us again a while later.
Fully loaded big rigs can run at far higher speeds than is allowed in California.
In Arizona, the speed limit for trucks is 65 mph versus 55 in California. Please write state lawmakers to request that big rigs be able to legally increase their speed to pass slower-moving vehicles. They won’t stay all day in the No. 1 Lane as many car drivers do.
Keith Adams, Santa Clara
A: And…
Q: If Ross Finlayson is upset about an occasional big rig in the fast lane, tell him not to move to Florida where big rigs can use whatever lane they want.
Wes M.
A: Yikes! We’re in road boulder prevention territory, big rig version.
Q: The other day, I was on Interstate 680 around Highway 101 in slow traffic when I noticed a car with lights around each headlight which were changing from red to blue every three to five seconds. There were no markings or a light bar on top of the car. It was just moving slowly with the rest of the traffic.
Is this a real, or a wannabe cop?
Keith Scott, Milpitas
A: Bruce-the-Roadshow-traffic cop says, “It sounds like the car with red/blue rings around the headlights was civilian-equipped for show. I’ve never seen them but, as described, would be illegal.”
Look for Gary Richards at Facebook.com/mr.roadshow or contact him at mrroadshow@bayareanewsgroup.com or 408-920-5335.
