Tire spikes aren’t a reliable tool for curbing wrong-way driving

QAbout the flurry of deaths due to wrong-way drivers on freeways, if freeway offramps had wrongway tire damage spikes installed, it may severely reduce these crashes. What do you think?

— Carl Dresel

AThe risk is largely more than the gain. Spike strips were tested by Caltrans back in 1965. The spikes did not deflate tires quickly enough and vehicles often ended up on the freeway facing the wrong direction. In addition, spikes would break, causing damage to the tires of drivers going the right way. And they were a maintenance nightmare.

The CHP advises motorists to stay out of the fast and slow lanes. Many wrong-way drivers go all the way to the right side of the freeway, or the fast lane because they think it is the slow lane. Most likely impaired, they don’t want to get pulled over for speeding or a DUI.

It is much safer to travel in the middle lanes of a freeway late at night or in pre-dawn hours because there is more room to maneuver.

QOften, I drive from Los Gatos on Highway 85 to Highway 101 to see my daughter in Belmont. The other day I was more surprised than usual at the number of cheaters in the diamond lane. At one point, about 75% were solo drivers. Why doesn’t the CHP scour this area 5-7 p.m.? Very discouraging.

— Martha Fisk, Los Gatos

ADuring the pandemic, this is not a priority.

QSouth Cypress Avenue between Stevens Creek Boulevard and Interstate 280 is in desperate need of repair. There are many potholes, poorly replaced and uneven utility access fills, and weeds growing in the cracks on the entire length.

Two other sections of Cypress have been entirely repaved over the past few years.

However, the main artery in this neighborhood remains in awful shape. Can you find out when the defects in this section of South Cypress will be addressed?

— Fletch Dobbs, San Jose

ASouth Cypress is to get a new layer of asphalt next summer. A few residential streets in this neighborhood were planned to be maintained in 2019 but were skipped due to conflicting sewer improvement projects. Those remaining smaller streets are also slated for work in 2021.

QI have been reading you since the early ’90s. So I am giving you the benefit of the doubt about the Mr. Roadshow headline on July 24. Please tell the editor that it is I-80, not “The I-80.” We are proud Northern Californians and do not tolerate that kind of talk up here.

— Glenn Wilcox, Los Gatos

AOur headline writers work in Southern California. Need I say more?