Q: When there are two right-turn-only lanes, is it legal to turn right on a red light if you are in the left (or outer) lane (as at Baker and Santa Rosa Ave, where two lanes turn right—south bound—near Costco)?
A: Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Doug Schlief says yes — as long as you stop at the red light, proceed when safe and stay in your turn lane.
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Q: I’ve noticed several times how incredibly unsafe it is to get onto the highway at Rohnert Park. It’s very difficult to see “oncoming” traffic as one tries to merge from the Expressway onto 101 northbound. I drive a Subaru car and the options are either to come flying into the merge section blind at something close to highway speeds so one doesn’t get rear-ended by larger vehicles coming up from behind, or drive very slow and have difficulty getting up to speed in the short merge zone before the exit comes up for Commerce, and hope one doesn’t get rear-ended.
I think a smart resolution would be to take down some of the wall between the lanes before one has to merge. It’s absolutely ridiculous the way these merge zones have been created. I remember one from the north end of Santa Rosa last year which was as poorly designed–given I was nearly hit by a truck coming onto the highway there. I’ve driven through construction zones all over the West Coast and have not run across areas as poorly designed.
Construction zones should be designed to be safe at the posted speed, period. Obviously these have been designed by people sitting in trucks, with a spatial inability to figure out the visibility from a car.
Charlene
A: Sorry, Charlene, but Caltrans says it doesn’t see a problem.
Caltrans spokesman Bob Haus said he talked with the engineer overseeing the Rohnert Park project and the engineer believes the concrete K-rails are properly placed, the 3-foot-tall K-rails aren’t high enough to block drivers’ visibility and the creation of a third lane between the Rohnert Park Expressway onramp and Commerce Boulevard onramp should provide you with enough room to safely merge.
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