Q: Over the years I have driven through many "Daylight Headlight Section" stretches of California highways. I assume that these are done to test the safety of driving with headlights on at all times. If this is true, haven't there been enough tests to come to a firm conclusion?
Ron Matejcek, Claremont
A: As a child I remember seeing the signs that said: "Headlights on, "Daylight Test Section." I always wondered: a) how you knew if you actually passed "the test," and b) where were the little men hiding that were grading you? According to CalTrans, there have been no signs with the word "testing" in them made since 1985. The signs that do say "Daylight Headlight Section" are used primarily on rural highways which have proven to have a higher than average number of collisions. CalTrans will study these accident statistics based on CHP reports over a two- to three-year period. If collisions are reduced after the Daylight Headlight Section is implemented, the signs will remain in that area. If not, they will be removed.
Q: During freeway traffic jams, some obnoxious drivers decide they don't have to wait like the rest of us, so they drive on the shoulder to get around their fellow motorists. Some drivers, often truckers, pull onto the shoulder so that no cars can get by. Could the people blocking these impatient drivers be cited as well?
Wesley Vanhorne
A: It's just so tempting isn't it, Wesley? It's so irritating when people drive on the shoulder that you can't help thinking, "I will break the law to keep you from breaking the law!" Unfortunately, according to the highway patrol, you are just giving the officer who ends up pulling you both over a "Two-For-One Special."
Q: Why is it that police say a person can be cited when driving a low-speed vehicle on a public street?
Anonymous Reader
A: It sounds like you've got a different kind of "sticker shock." I'm afraid that the police are only following the law, which is spelled out on a required sticker inside the LSV (low-speed vehicle) which says, "The vehicle's maximum speed is 25 miles per hour and it may be a hazard on the roadways if it impedes traffic, for which, the driver may be cited." Q: I have a Prius hybrid, and I have the ugly stickers that I can put on it so that I can drive in the car-pool lane when driving alone. My question is do I need TWO people in the car when the car-pool sign says that three are required?
Joanne Dallas, Montclair
A: Good news, Joanne. You are in for some quality alone time. The DMV-issued Clean Air Vehicle sticker dismisses the requirement for you to have more than one person in the vehicle with you, no matter what the HOV signs might say. I bet those big yellow stickers don't seem quite as unattractive now, huh?
Michelle Groh-Gordy is the owner of InterActive! Traffic School Online at http://www.trafficinteractive.com, and writes a syndicated weekly column on driving for the publications of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group.
