Q: I live on Dry Creek Road in San Jose, about a half-block west of Hicks Avenue. I read with interest a recent letter to you from someone concerned with cars speeding on Hicks and hitting parked cars. I agree that we need to balance safety of property with the need for the fire engines from Station 6 to get down Hicks quickly.
On one recent evening, for about the third time in about ten years, someone going southbound hit and damaged the power pole on the southwest corner of Hicks and Dry Creek. Hicks jogs about ten feet to the east at that point, so someone speeding south on Hicks and not paying attention ends up colliding with the pole.
We call it the sobriety checkpoint.
Maureen Searing, San Jose
A: This is a sobering situation. You’ve provided fair warning about one of extra hazards drivers face if they speed (or more) on Hicks Avenue.
Story on FasTrak tickets struck a chord with readers
I was surprised by the number of readers who, in response to Eliyahu Kamisher’s recent story about the high cost to drivers of ignoring FasTrak tickets, had little sympathy for the drivers’ plight. Here is a sample of comments:
“OK, it seems a lot of the fines are out of proportion to the tolls, but still most of us who have been paying tolls all our lives have zero sympathy for the people who just can’t be bothered…FasTrak’s not perfect, and you DO need to check your account periodically to make sure everything is correct and up to date.”
“Zero sympathy for the whiners. I hate the darn toll lanes and do not wish to pay. So I NEVER enter a toll lane unless it’s clearly displaying ‘Free for all.’ If you choose to enter a toll lane, you need to cough up. It’s that simple. Lots of sympathy for those who were incorrectly billed and fined because they had sold their vehicle (legally and filed the DMV paperwork) or those whose vehicle could not have racked up the fine because it was somewhere else.”
“Angulo’s debt underscores a complicated payment system for the growing network of Bay Area express lanes, which charge variable fees depending on the time of day and the length of a driver’s commute. The blinking radio transponder isn’t 100% either… This new fangled invention needs work.”
And a few readers’ comments were in this vein:
“This is disgusting! We’ve been hornswoggled into some kind of scheme we never wanted in the first place . . . the roads belong to us, not some private scheme to confuse us and then rob us!”
Mr. Roadshow asks: Does anyone else have thoughts, either way?
Look for Gary Richards at facebook.com/mr.roadshow or contact him at mrroadshow@bayareanewsgroup.com.
