Q: There have been a lot of median-barrier construction projects near the 5\/57\/22\/55 freeway interchanges where they have installed light poles. What is driving the need for these lights?<\/p>\n
\u2013 Oscar Gomez, Orange<\/p>\n
A: Boosting safety.<\/p>\n
Nationally, the number of fatal collisions at night is about the same as during the day. But we log three times the miles during daytime.<\/p>\n
Lighting, federal officials say, makes a huge difference in cutting down deaths \u2014 up to 28%.<\/p>\n
\u201cMedian lighting has been widely used as a safety countermeasure for nighttime collisions,\u201d said Joseph \u201cL.J.\u201d Maull, a spokesperson for Caltrans in Orange County, where those interchanges Oscar mentioned exist. \u201cAdditionally, the width of our freeways necessitates median lights, as the full width of the freeway limits the ability to illuminate the freeway from the right shoulder.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are additional stretches that Oscar didn\u2019t mention that have gotten the bright treatment in O.C., too.<\/p>\n
Adding those median lights isn\u2019t cheap.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is estimated to range from $2.5 to $4 million per mile (including the new concrete median) with lighting spaced at 150 to 200 feet along the freeway,\u201d Maull said, with various factors, of course, affecting the price tag.<\/p>\n
That is a lot of cashola \u2014 but each resident of Honkland is worth much more than that.<\/p>\n
Q: Is Caltrans preparing for self-driving cars? If California wants to lead the technology race, this is an area needing attention.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Mark Woodward, Anaheim<\/p>\n
A: Yes, says a Caltrans official.<\/p>\n
\u201cCaltrans is working with the Department of Motor Vehicles and other state, federal, academic, and industry leaders to evaluate potential benefits and impacts of automated-vehicle (AV) technology and prioritize approaches that advance safety, equity, system performance and public trust,\u201d Edward Barrera, an acting assistant deputy director for the agency, told Honk in an email.<\/p>\n
\u201cCaltrans has taken several concrete steps to prepare the state\u2019s transportation system for AVs, including widening lane stripes to improve their visibility \u2026 and sharing real-time roadway data,\u201d he said. \u201cThese improvements will enhance road safety for AVs, human drivers, and all road users.\u201d<\/p>\n
That lane striping is the most visible change to most drivers: The standard width has gone from four inches wide to six, allowing automated cars and trucks \u2014 and humans, too \u2014 to better detect the stripes.<\/p>\n
For years, Caltrans has tested what are called \u201cconnected vehicles\u201d on State Route 82 in Palo Alto.<\/p>\n
If the concept is fully developed, a car could detect speeds and movements of nearby cars and trucks and know that, for example, an unseen vehicle around a corner is speeding so a collision is avoided. And trucks and cars could \u201ctalk\u201d with traffic signals and influence the changing of lights more efficiently than the current systems do.<\/p>\n
HONKIN\u2019 FACT: A semi-truck driver for the U.S. Postal Service, Joe Sanchez, based in Anaheim, has been awarded the Million Mile Award by the nonprofit National Safety Council for driving that far at work \u2014 or for 30 years on the road \u2014 sans a preventable incident or moving violation.<\/p>\n
Kristina Uppal, a U.S. Postal Service spokesperson, told Honk that more than 30,000 Postal Service employees have accomplished the feat.<\/p>\n
To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com\/tag\/honk<\/a>. Twitter: @OCRegisterHonk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Q: There have been a lot of median-barrier construction projects near the 5\/57\/22\/55 freeway interchanges where they have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,138,3159,62821,100,136,1967],"class_list":["post-426467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-driving","tag-honk","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-transportation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}