Driving at dangerous speeds has increased during pandemic
QThree cars passed me on Highway 101 between Palo Alto and Highway 87 last Thursday, going at least 100 miles per hour. We need some incentives to give the California Highway Patrol more financial assistance in paying off-duty officers to do freeway supervision.
— Lynn Dyche, San Jose
AState rules do not permit paying off-duty officers to monitor our freeways with extra fees. Usually, that is done on an overtime basis or regular patrols. Now get ready for some disturbing trends.
Federal officials report a 22% increase in speeds in several metropolitan areas over pre-pandemic numbers.
STUNNER I >> What are traffic cops doing? Police in California issued more than 15,000 tickets from mid-March through mid-August for speeds exceeding 100 mph, more than a 100% increase over the same time period a year ago. Driving over 100 mph can carry a fine of up to $900 for a first offense and jail time, plus losing your license and vehicle.
STUNNER II >> There has been an 87% increase statewide in speeding tickets for drivers going more than
100 mph. Last year, from March 19, when the state’s stay-at-home order began, to April 19, the CHP issued 2,493 citations for speeding more than 100 mph, as compared with 1,335 during the same period in 2019.
STUNNER III >> The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that 11,260 people were killed nationwide in the third quarter of 2020, a 13.1% increase compared with the same period in 2019, in pre-COVID-19 days.
QWe recently have had two very loud sideshows at 11:30 p.m., keeping us awake. One was at Meridian and Fruitdale. My friend got caught in it and had to drive down a sidewalk to exit in the wrong direction. He just wanted to get to Interstate 280 and couldn’t. What is the city doing about this?
— Byran Longmire, San Jose
AHere is what you can do. Call 911 and the police will try to break it up.
QOn many streets in my area of San Jose (for example, Lean Avenue), they are putting about 4or 5-inch orange pipes under the streets. Any idea what these are for?
— Bob Cooper, San Jose
AOrange means fiberoptic cable is being installed.
QI fear the upcoming repaving of El Camino Real. In the past, every time the road has been remade into a nice driving surface, every utility with an easement has decided after the work is done to dig up miles to install something new underground. I don’t see any reason this won’t happen again.
—Dan D.
AI know this can be a headache. But word is that Caltrans will perform utility work before repaving when they can.