Diane Dokos, San Juan Capistrano
Unfortunately Kim, you might consider riding your horse right out of town and never coming back to San Juan (Dear SJC Automobile Drivers, Nov. 28, 2014). Residents of this town no longer respect horses and their riders. Most residents would rather squeeze our stables right on out of here.
The speed at which people drive on Camino La Ronda has been a concern for a very long time. The horse crossing you are referring to is very dangerous, for it is located in the middle of an s-curve in the road.
Residents and visitors drive this street way over the speed limit. Many years ago, our car got totaled from an out-of-control driver. Many of us asked for speed humps, but the city said we did not qualify for them, so they gave us stop signs to slow drivers down. Well, the stop signs do not slow drivers down in fact most people do not bother to even stop at the signs. There have been many unreported accidents on this street. One summer, motorcycle officers gave out over 200 tickets on this street. Residents were outraged at receiving tickets and took the issue to the city for a town hall meeting. At this town hall meeting, our City Council members basically slapped the hands of the officers for giving out so many citations. The City Council took the side of the residents and obviously told our sheriff’s department to stop sending the motorcycle officers to our street, since we never see much of them anymore.
Oh yeah, the city did give us what they call “calming methods” for the street—something that was designed to calm drivers into slow driving. That is where they painted rows and rows of bright lines and reflectors. The city’s calming method of paint and reflectors only made this street resemble a high speed highway or an airport runway. It has done nothing to slow drivers down; in fact, it has made this street even more dangerous. Oh yes, the city also sends out the portable radar sign at times. It is fun to watch how the board reflects the driver’s speed at 10 to 20 miles over the speed limit of this residential street. I am not sure why the city wastes the money to send this radar unit out here; no action is ever taken to the drivers who are breaking the law.
Well Kim, I am sorry to say that automobile drivers of this community have no respect. They have no respect for our equestrian community, they have no respect for our children waiting at the corners for the school bus, they have no respect for pedestrians crossing the roadways and they have no respect for each other. So, Kim, you and your fellow equestrians be careful crossing the street of La Ronda, because no one in this town is interested in making that equestrian crossing safer.
I was on the Transportation Commission when this issue was addressed. The action taken was the only one the city had the money to do. Staff recommended bicycle lanes in hopes of slowing traffic. I quickly dismissed that one. Many people complained about being ticketed, with 1 man saying it was physically impossible to have his wheel completely stop at a stop sign. I can’t believe people are still speeding through their neighborhood. The problems that would come from hitting a pedestrian, to say nothing of the emotional problems are monumental. All this because somebody can’t leave 5 minutes earlier. There must be some pretty self centered people in that neighborhood.