Life in the Fast Freeway Lanes

* My wife and I use the freeways quite often. We use (Interstate 5) between L.A. and the “Y” at El Toro, and also use the (Costa Mesa, Orange and Riverside freeways). During the heavy traffic in the mornings and early evenings, we use the diamond lanes.

Many times the rest of the traffic is gridlocked or extremely heavy, and we come barreling down the diamond lane at 55 m.p.h.-plus. It is a terrifying experience because we are sort of locked in between the center divider and the slow-moving traffic because every so often we see some single driver cut over the double line into the diamond lane hoping to evade the law and get to their destination a bit quicker, and we are apprehensive that one of them may decide to do it in front of us.

Then when we approach our off-ramp, trying to cross four lanes of traffic to get over and off the freeway is a nightmare, one reason being because many commuters resent the fact that we get to use the coveted lane and will not yield to let us through.

Try this as a better way to deal with this dilemma: Utilize the diamond lanes only for trucks, buses, semis and motorcycles, if they so desire. It will alleviate the traffic on the outside lanes somewhat, trucks and buses will move much faster and so will the rest of the traffic--and what idiot passenger car driver is going to argue with a 40-foot truck or bus or a 50- to 60-foot semi. They should be able to maneuver off the freeway much easier than puny automobiles.

ARTHUR F. WALTER

Laguna Hills