CHP officer warns against opening shoulders to traffic

Q

Your column on using the shoulder of a highway to carry traffic made me write to you. Here is my opinion. — Lt. Gary Lofgren, retired CHP officer

A

It’s an opinion worth a lot. Gary-the-CHP-Man has been a Roadshow expert for many years.

Q

When I was working we could have objected strenuously to the idea.

First: It is extremely dangerous to have no place for cars to park in an emergency. I have seen the traffic problems that are caused when a car is stopped in the lane with no place to go.

Second: I used the shoulder many times to get to an accident when all lanes were blocked. Without the shoulder, emergency help cannot get to accident scenes to provide first aid and open the road.

Last, but not least. Caltrans says that shoulders were not designed for vehicle travel and do not have the same base or thickness of asphalt that regular lanes have. — Gary Lofgren

A

All valid concerns. But this effort is gaining momentum and a VTA report on opening the shoulder on Highway 87 in San Jose could be out in a few months.

Q

If we use the shoulders of our freeways for extra lanes, where will we store all of our trash? Bad idea! — Tony DiBenedetto, San Jose

A

Funny guy.

Q

I saw your post advising drivers to let emergency vehicles pass if safely possible at a red light.

I was in a nearly identical situation, waiting in a left turn lane at a large intersection. I saw lights and heard sirens behind me, and then my light turned green so I made my left turn to open up my lane for the fire engine to pass through if it needed to go straight. Instead it turned left behind me and the driver leaned on his horn, so I pulled over as soon as I was through the intersection.

I read the horn as telling me I was in the wrong, but maybe the driver just wanted to make sure I saw him and would move over ASAP as I did. I can’t think of what else I should have done.

A

This happened to me a few years ago and Sgt.-Bruce-The-Retired-San Jose motorcycle cop says:

“I think that she did exactly what was right. She got out of the way so the fire truck could be on its way. Perfect! When she got honked at by the fire truck driver, it was probably just to let her know to be sure to pull over and that he was behind her. Good job, Teresa.”