Letters & Shout-outs (June 5, 2015)

Highway 9 Traffic Saftey                                          
As my husband and I were on our way home, driving East on El Soylo Heights Drive, we stopped our car just before Highway 9. My husband, who was driving, checked the traffic to see if it was safe for him to drive to the turn-out in the middle of the street. He could see no cars on the street either way, so he started across the southbound lane to go to the turnout. 
All of a sudden, he saw a car to his left just turning the corner. The driver was going very fast, faster than the 35 mph speed limit allowed. My husband quickly sped up just a little and managed to get our car into the turnout before the other car sped by us. He passed us one second after we got to the turnout and I was really frightened. Any hesitance on my husband’s part would have resulted in a terrible crash, with him taking the brunt of the impact. It was then that I decided to write a letter to the Press-Banner. 
The San Lorenzo Valley Traffic has slowly picked up over the years, since that turnout was added to the portion of Highway 9. More and more people are moving here, living close to the redwoods, and enjoying the fresh air while still being fairly close to big cities. And over the years, the traffic has slowly increased, too.
On this particular portion of Highway 9, the northbound traffic is visible for a long way down the street and poses no visual threat to drivers. It is the southbound traffic, which drivers coming down El Soylo Heights cannot see that poses the big problem to drivers. Somebody — possibly Caltrans — needs to have signs and warnings posted on Highway 9, alerting people to incoming traffic before the southbound drivers turn the corner. They need to know that there might be cars attempting to turn onto Highway 9.   
Everyone has a right to the road, and with a few additions to critical portions of the road, we can all enjoy traveling them. I do hope the right people will read this letter, and encourage those changes.
Carolyn Robinson, Ben Lomond