Right turn around traffic island can be legal and confusing

QMy husband was pulled over for making a right turn around the island at Saratoga and Moorpark. It becomes impossible to make that right turn into the turn lane in the mornings, due to the backup of people trying to make a right turn onto south Interstate 280. I did not see anything relating to this in the Drivers' Handbook. I have seen signs elsewhere explicitly saying no right turn around an island. Without this sign, is it legal or not?

— Anna Kuo-mei

AIt is legal to make a right turn around a curb island unless there are signs or lane markings restricting it. Turning right into a right turn-only lane, which it sounds like your husband did, would likely make this illegal.

Q

I was biking south on Evelyn and approached Moorpark Way, after the 237 underpass. My light was green, so I entered the intersection. Before I was a quarter of the way through, a car whizzed down Moorpark toward Evelyn.

Stopping in the middle of an intersection is foolish, especially on a bicycle, but it was unclear whether the driver intended to stop, or if they even saw me, so I did the only thing a cyclist can do in that situation: try to make eye contact with the driver. The front side windows were tinted, so not only could I not make eye contact, I couldn't even see the driver.

Tinted front windows are illegal in California, but if there is any effort to enforce that, I don't see it. What I do see, as a cyclist, are lots and lots of tinted side windows … maybe on 1 in 10 cars now?

This is the kind of situation where cyclists get killed.

— Deborah Goldeen, Palo Alto

AYou raise an excellent point. It is not legal to have tinted front windows, but it is legal to have tinted windows on side doors, although not to the degree that it blocks visibility.

QOn Boynton Avenue between Moorpark and Williams, trucks line up to park along the school field.

There are often 4-8 parked along the road at 5:30 a.m., when I'm trying to take a healthy walk, but end up choking on diesel fumes. People drive over in their personal vehicles, park in front of the church, start the diesel trucks and run them for half an hour to warm up.

This doesn't seem appropriate for a residential neighborhood, but is this legal? — Gwyneth Anne Freedman

AIt is legal as long as they move their vehicles within 72 hours. As for the fumes, there is no need to run most trucks for half an hour to warm them up.