Question: I use cruise control all the time as I believe that the regulated speed makes me a safer driver, but my uncle told me that I should not use cruise control when it is raining. Is this true? - Xavier Torres, Redlands
Answer: This would be a good time to heed the advice of your relatives, Xavier. When the road is icy or wet and your vehicle begins to hydroplane, the cruise control will make your vehicle continue to accelerate and you can be launched into the air like a rocket if you don't get to the brake quickly enough to deactivate it.
As automobile manufacturers become more aware of this problem, some newer vehicles are being designed so that you cannot activate cruise control when the windshield wipers are turned on.
Q: We live on a residential street which ends in a cul-de-sac. Our neighbors routinely double park. This means their vehicle is parked smack in the middle of the road. It sometimes stays there 24 hours or more.
Is this legal? Also, if someone hits their car, who is at fault? I would think it is the person who is illegally parked in the middle of the road. - Cathy
A: Double parking is never legal, Cathy, so your neighbors could be cited. However, should there be a collision between another vehicle and the illegally parked car, the likely outcome is that the driver of the moving vehicle would be found "at fault."
Q: A couple of months ago I was driving north on Vineyard in Ontario. I was a couple of cars from the green light on Fourth Street, when I noticed that the green light started flashing. The other drivers did not know what to do. About 30 seconds later, we heard a fire truck come up behind us on Vineyard and then made a left turn on to Fourth Street going west.
I never heard about the flashing green. I made a call to the local police department and asked about what you should do. Go forward with caution or stop? I really did not get a clear answer. - John, Rancho Cucamonga
A: Ah, the old flashing green light debacle. It's been a while since I addressed this question, and from your story, it sounds like it is still shaking up folks, so I don't mind revisiting the topic.
Some cities, such as Ontario, use the flashing green light to "make you look." The light is triggered by the oncoming emergency vehicles. Public agencies have found that people, in their confusion, show a much higher level of alertness for the flashing green then they do for the more commonly used flashing yellow.
Clarification: To clarify an answer to a question that was addressed a few weeks back regarding changing lanes in an intersection; it is not against the law to change lanes in an intersection as long as you can do so safely and you stay on your side of the road, i.e. you do not go into oncoming traffic.
It is, however, illegal to move out of the left-hand turn lane once you are stopped at a traffic signal in the turn pocket.
Michelle Groh-Gordy is the owner of InterActive! Traffic School Online at www.trafficinteractive.com , and writes a syndicated weekly column on driving for the publications of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group.
