Here’s a question from a reader:
Why is it that buses (usually casino bound) can drive in the #1 lane even after carpool hours are over? It seems to me that buses should be following the same rules as trucks with trailers and have to stay in the far right lane except to pass. I see almost daily buses holding up faster traffic in the #1 lane and cars maneuvering around them which is creating unsafe conditions. Thanks, Nate
The answer comes from CHP Officer Jon Sloat, spokesman for the local office:
The buses are allowed to be in that lane, but they can’t impede traffic. They have to go the speed limit or move over.
Another question from a reader:
The College/Humboldt intersection in Santa Rosa has “No Turn on Red” for drivers making a right turn to (southbound) Humboldt. Why? Tom
From the Road Warrior: You actually aren’t allowed to turn right on red at any corner of the intersection. Humboldt Street is the city’s Bicycle Boulevard, so perhaps…?
The answer comes from Rob Sprinkle, Santa Rosa’s traffic engineer:
As far as I can find from our records, the no turn on reds were installed prior to 1986. So that was well before the Bicycle Blvd. Although I do not know the specific reason for the initial installation, prohibiting right turns on red does provide benefit for pedestrian crossings.
Rich Honsa
Your lucky if the buses are in your way or maybe your driving too fast ? I’ve had the casino buses pass me between Santa Rosa & Healdsburg pass me doing 80 + They just can’t get those buses out of the bay area fast enough .
February 12th, 2012 10:40 am
Mike
I’d like to know why the CHP looks the other way when these buses cruise 80+ in the fast lane?
February 12th, 2012 11:03 am
Joel
Regardless of what the traffic engineer thinks. The no turn on red signs at College and Humboldt were put in fairly recently. Maybe 5 years ago around the time that the city put in the uselessly small roundabouts at every intersection of Humboldt. Coming from the JC neighborhood on Humboldt and making a right onto College on a red light was deemed exceedingly dangerous because the cars driving on College are easily hitting 40 and there is a large hedge directly in the line of sight a driver would need to use in order to safely make the turn.
The signs don’t seem to stop anyone from making a right turn except for me tho.
February 12th, 2012 12:12 pm
DaveR
So Sprinkle is saying he’s not sure why, but there must be a reason? That makes no sense. As the traffic engineer, you think he’d know the reason even if it was done a long time ago.
February 12th, 2012 1:32 pm
David Stubblebine
The rationale behind allowing busses in the fast lane has more to do with weight than speed. Busses haul people, not freight, and so even though they are pretty heavy vehicles, they weigh quite a bit less than trucks hauling freight. Heavy freight trucks are murderously hard on the road bed itself and so they are limited to the right lane(s) only. Freeways are supposed to be engineered with better foundations under the right lanes for this reason. Heavy vehicles also have reduced speeds (especially with hills around) so keeping freight trucks out of the fast lane keeps the traffic moving; busses in the fast lane do less to impede traffic than the normal fast-lane dawdlers.
As for the comment that “the CHP looks the other way when these buses cruise 80+” – they don’t. Bus drivers get tickets too. Perhaps not as many proportionally, but that’s because they commit fewer infranctions because they are better trained and just plain better drivers than most motorists. I also question the implication that busses cruising 80+ is somehow the norm. The proof of the pudding is not in the ticket rate but in the accident rate. When busses get in accidents (& they do), it’s big news and we hear all about it; but that doesn’t mean it is common. It isn’t common; it’s rare. Because bus drivers, pound for pound, tend to be better drivers.
February 12th, 2012 2:27 pm
Craig Gaevert
The College-Humboldt “no turn on red” signs have been there as long as I’ve lived the neighborhood and that is 24 years. The argument doesn’t hold water – if it were really useful then the same sign would be at Beaver, Orchard and Slater. If it’s such a good argument, why isn’t it at King/College? Same situation – near a school, etc.. The signs don’t make sense and for that matter neither does its timing.
February 13th, 2012 1:36 pm
Road.Warrior
After reading the comments about casino buses on 101, I quickly got a test case. Yesterday morning, I was northbound coming up the Cotati Grade when I was passed in the fast lane by a River Rock Casino bus. Traffic was light, so I sped up to try to match the bus’s speed. I got up to 70 and the bus still was pulling away from me. And the speed limit is 55! A couple of minutes later, another River Rock bus came barreling down the fast lane. I tried my test again. Got up to 65 before slowing back to 55. Never even got close to the bus. So the reader talking about buses speeding has a point.
February 14th, 2012 3:58 pm