Letters.

Driving While Dialing

Your editorial lampooning Santa Monica City Council members who want driving while dialing (DWD) curtailed ("Bizarre Doings by the Beach," April 10) was a cheap shot.

Studies indicate that DWD is as dangerous as driving after a couple of cocktails. On the incredibly congested streets of Santa Monica, combining dialing, driving and SUVs is a real threat to life and limb. Ask anyone on a bicycle. Ask a pedestrian. Ask small-car drivers.

I drive 50 to 75 miles every day across L.A. County. Almost every freeway slowdown and bottleneck in the flow of traffic that I encounter comes from someone on the phone.

DWD drivers don't signal. They don't maintain constant speed. They don't look before changing lanes. In short, they're distracted.

Is this a problem? You bet. Can the city do anything about it? No. Can they talk about it? Yep. And so should you.

REV. JAMES CONN

Urban Strategy

United Methodist Church 

Former Mayor of Santa Monica

Your opinion piece on Santa Monica's discussion of an ordinance to outlaw use of cellular phones by drivers missed the point altogether. You refer to these drivers as an annoyance.

I beg to differ. An annoyance is some bean-head yammering away on his cell phone at the next table when I'm trying to have a quiet conversation with a friend. I can coexist with annoyances.

A driver so distracted by his cell phone conversation that he thinks my lane is his left-turn lane and almost causes a head-on collision with me is something far more dangerous, and should be outlawed. (That scenario has happened to me three times within a month, all involving people talking on car phones.) It is no less dangerous than driving drunk, driving without a seat belt, or any number of other driving situations that are so unsafe as to require the passage of a law.

Cellular phones are a great convenience. But they should only be used by people who are not driving.

SUZANNE ALI

Tujunga

The Right Transit for Wilshire

In answer to the question, "Does the Westside want public transportation, or doesn't it?" posed by the LABJ in its April 3 editorial "They're Buses, not Strip Clubs": Speaking for the Wilshire Center business community, we do want, and have been strong advocates for, public transportation along Wilshire.

We look forward to the Metro Rapid Bus (MRB) system that is planned for implementation this June. The MRB will move people along Wilshire quickly and efficiently, without creating a designated lane prohibiting left turns along Wilshire or forcing traffic onto neighboring side streets .-- unlike the Bus Rapid Transit system (BRT) currently proposed by the MTA.

The BRT system simply does not make sense for Wilshire. The right of way is inadequate to support either a center lane or curb lane system, a maximum of 80 feet. Your editorial acknowledged significant concerns; limited left turns, loss of on-street parking critical to local merchants, not to mention the impact to north/south traffic. And, with a center lane system, how do commuters get to either side of the street while the BRT controls the signals? Additionally, there are no guarantees that commuters would utilize surrounding streets. Even if they do, these arteries would quickly become as congested as Wilshire Boulevard.

Don't lump us in with affluent Westside communities by characterizing us as Not-In-My-Back-Yard-minded individuals who are afraid of "outsiders" traveling through our area and who are unduly concerned about temporary construction woes. With all due respect, we are individuals hailing from diverse backgrounds, and we are all too familiar with the disruption associated with transit construction,

Wilshire Boulevard was severely impacted by subway construction, but we supported it and coped with it because we believed it was part of a modern transportation system that would move people across the city efficiently. We welcome a 21st century, clean, cost-efficient system that will truly meet the most significant mass-transit objective, which is to encourage commuters to get out of their cars. We do not believe the proposed BRT for Wilshire is that system. Unlike the LABJ, we do not believe that any system is better than no system.

DONNA DALTON

President

Wilshire Center Chamber of Commerce

ANDREW MILIOTIS

President

Wilshire Center Business Improvement Corp.

GARY RUSSELL

Executive Director

Wilshire Center Business Improvement Corp.