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Continuation of comments regarding traffic issues
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Posted by editor Tue Nov 30, 1999 00:00:00 PST
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0 responses 0 comments For the past few weeks, we have discussed the speed limit on Red Apple Avenue and other traffic issues.

The numerous submissions on this topic indicate that many readers want our community to be aware of regulations and driving patterns that can cause vehicle accidents.

Following are more responses on the traffic issue:

For many motorists it is just human nature to drive faster than the speed limit.

This has got to be considered when setting speed limits on the roads, especially in a residential area where children and animals are present.

Forty-five mph is definitely too fast for Red Apple Avenue. It is a residential community and it should be lowered to 35 mph to keep it safer.

There have been too many accidents on the 202 in the last few weeks. I think that we all need to realize that vehicles have the potential to be killing-machines.

A Caltrans worker was killed, another one seriously injured and a 6-year-old girl died recently. Then there was another injury wreck involving children just a few days later.

Motorists should not be passing on the 202; it is barely wide enough to allow two cars traveling in opposite direction to clear. People are dying needlessly.

I would like Caltrans and the County to install the flapper dividers that warn drivers they are too close and/or widen the 202, install a double yellow line, and eliminate the passing zones.

Our children are on the school buses that travel on that road all the time. Please, let’s all slow it down and stop passing cars on the 202. It's just not safe; plain and simple!


As it has been brought up that Red Apple Avenue  has been declared by Tehachapi School District and the CHP to be unsafe for school bus stops, I think that as travelers of this road, you should know that the school district expects our son and other elementary school students to walk down from the bus stop at 202 and Sierra Vista Red Apple and then Cross this newly designed freeway to reach their safe haven homes.

I will not allow my son to become a victim like the dog of a neighbor, or our own cat of six years. He must go to after-school day care until he can be picked up. What will it take for people to realize this is a residential area? There are kids and bike riders (more so now).Maybe people are driving too fast to see them.

Also, how long is it going to be before someone rear ends our cars as we turn into our driveways? Let me say it again, in case no one noticed,  Red Apple is a residential area. Slow down  regardless of what time you "wanted to get home".
Thank you,

In reference to your observation of the difference in posted speed limits between Tehachapi Boulevard and Red Apple. Speed limits are usually established by a traffic engineer after the collection of extensive data.

Such a survey and study was completed on both Tehachapi Boulevard and Valley Boulevard/State 202 a number of years ago. The recommendation for both was to adjust the speed limits to 40 mph.  Part of the reason for the survey was to allow the use of radar to detect vehicles exceeding the posted speed limits and cite the operators.

Without the survey, a radar detected violation, usually will not withstand court challenge. History tells us that the Valley Boulevard section between Curry Street and Beech Street was changed form 35 mph to 40 mph and the state established limit was carried west to Woodford Tehachapi Road.

So what about Tehachapi Boulevard you ask? Well it would seem that the members of the City Council at the time were more interested in the economic well-being of their friends who owned businesses on the boulevard than they were in traffic control. So in their ultimate wisdom they kept the speed limit at 35 mph between Dennison and Tucker Roads. My own experience on this section of the Boulevard has been that driving under 40 to 45 mph. is hazardous and many passing  by.

Enforcement? Nearly impossible without radar due to the legal requirements relative to establishing the speed of the vehicle being "clocked". As for Red Apple, ask the County Traffic Engineer how the 45 mph. limit was established.

Editor’s Note: Read the article “Speed limts are set my state code” in this week’s edition of the Tehachapi News. To make comments or suggestions, write to www.tehachapinews.com/.

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