Tollbooths are getting a safety review to protect workers

Q Toll collector Si Si Han, who was killed recently when a truck slammed into her booth on the Bay Bridge, might be fine today if there was a large concrete barrier protecting each tollbooth. Make sense? — Jacques Guertin, Newark

A

There is concrete at the base before each tollbooth and a crash barrier after that to protect workers from head-on crashes. But the circumstances of this horrific incident may not have saved the Caltrans worker.

The truck may have been going nearly 100 mph when it hit a car ahead at an angle, flying into the air and smashing into the tollbooth at an angle. All those factors may not have kept Han safe.

But everything is being considered including not reopening booth No. 13. Some Caltrans workers were so traumatized that they do not want to work in that booth again. Q On the same day that readers wrote about lack of lights on highway signs, I read that Gov. Jerry Brown is adding $3.5 billion of the $6.1 billion budget surplus to his “rainy day fund,” bringing the total to $13.5 billion.

Budget surplus? Rainy day fund? We’ve got potholes the size of Volkswagens, lane markers that have completely worn off our roads, and no lights on highway signs. These add up to some really dangerous conditions, all while the state is sitting on $13.5 billion?

Gov. Brown, I think your rainy day is now. — Joe Gumina, San Carlos

A

It could become a thunderstorm if the 12-cents-a-gallon tax is repealed, taking billions away from pothole repairs.

Q

I have often pondered how information on road signs is calculated with the distance to upcoming towns. Are they calculated to city hall or a significant location? Some cities like San Jose are so large, a time identifier for travelers can be greatly changed by that fact. — Glenn Feldman, San Ramon

A

It’s usually to downtown or city hall if located in a downtown area.

Q

As an RVer who tows a trailer, I know that cars and pickups towing trailers are prohibited from express and HOV lanes even if you have passengers that would normally qualify as carpool. I always stay out of those lanes as the speed limit is 55 mph for towing vehicles, but almost got stung when using the HOV lane on Interstate 680 to get around a huge traffic jam. — Joel Abramson, Concord

A

No, no, no. Do not swerve into a carpool lane to skirt slower cars in the turtle lanes.