The in basket: Annette Griffus, a sports reporter here, asks, “What is the city/county ordinance, if any, on the use of jake brakes for trucks traveling on Highway 3 near Gorst early (very early) in the morning, or really any time of day?
“It has really become a problem with the noise where I live and I was just curious.”

She lives along the downgrade from Sunnyslope Road to the Gorst businesses, she said.

The out basket: I see signs saying unmuffled compression brakes are forbidden, but they mostly are at the entries to cities. There is no such sign on the downgrade where Annette lives, a state highway, and from what I’ve been able to determine, there isn’t likely to be.

Jeff Shea, Kitsap County’s traffic engineer, says, “State law RCW 46.37.395 requires compression brakes be muffled for any vehicle over five tons.  Kitsap County Code 46.37.010 simply states that unmuffled brakes are prohibited.

“We post all roads entering the county with a sign that states this restriction; excluding the state routes. We also respond to residents near trucking routes, normally on steep slopes where trucks are using their brakes, and we post a similar sign.

“The (state) will not post this restriction on the state routes because they are reluctant to post regulations that should be common knowledge,” Jeff said.

“To my knowledge,” he added, “this restriction has never been enforced by law enforcement. My understanding from talking to the sheriff is that it is difficult to tell if the brakes are muffled or not.  I have also been told that even if they are muffled, they still make a significant amount of noise.

“Some communities have passed ordinances to restrict compression brakes altogether,” he said. “The trucking industry has told us that this is a safety issue. On steep slopes trucks with large loads cannot be controlled without the use of compression brakes.

“Also, this type of ordinance becomes an environmental law.  Specific noise levels must be established which makes enforcement very difficult. Normally with these laws a stipulation is put into the regulation that allows for their use in emergencies, which can pretty much be claimed at any time making enforcement even more of an issue.”

I asked Claudia Bingham Baker of the Olympic Region of state highways if Jeff’s characterization is accurate, and she replied, “It is true that WSDOT is reluctant to post regulations already covered under RCW 46.61 “Rules of the Road.” We don’t post signs, for example, that tell people to drive in the right lane.

“As regards signs prohibiting compression brakes, if a local jurisdiction passes an ordinance prohibiting muffled compression brakes on a state highway within their jurisdiction, we will post the sign.

“Absent an ordinance, we will not, since without the ordinance they are not illegal.  And since unmuffled compression brakes are already prohibited, it would be like signing the ‘drive in the right lane.’ message.”

Since the Kitsap County ordinance addresses only unmuffled jake brakes, I wouldn’t expect a sign on Highway 3 entering Gorst.

The in basket: Charlie Ballew writes, “Twice this month I almost hit pedestrians (probably PSNS workers going to work) during the morning at 4th and Warren Avenue and 5th and Warren Avenue.  The pedestrians were wearing dark clothing and I didn’t see them until I was almost on them.

“We need to have overhead street lights at these two intersections,” he said.

The out basket: Charlie’s comment echoes that of

Dale Gilchrist, who told an almost identical story back in March 2013, shortly after the center barrier was installed on Warren.

The city’s position then came from street engineer Gunnar Fridriksson, who said, “a recent city traffic study showed little nighttime accident history on Warren at that point.

“The accidents were primarily daytime – very few nighttime accidents,” he said. “I think there were four total for the report period in our traffic study – all vehicle accidents.

“So street lighting was not part of the design effort with the latest improvement. That being said, we have been trying to get resources to look at overall street lighting levels citywide. It is on our to-do list, just as we have time to get to it.”

I asked Gunnar’s successor, Jerry Hauth, what’s new and he said better lighting is coming to that stretch of Warren. He said Puget Sound energy “will be augmenting the lighting in this area in conjunction with the work on Americans with Disability Act ramps the state will start to install next spring.”

He included a preliminary sketch of the work, which shows four 35-foot wood poles to be installed with 102-watt LED lights that appear to go on diagonal corners of the two intersections.

The in basket: Joan Dingfield asks, “Can you find out why the yield directions on roundabouts are exactly opposite of what state law states about rights-of-way?

“When cars arrive at an intersection at the same time, it is the car on the right that has the right-of-way. When approaching a roundabout, however, it is the car to your left you need to yield to.”

The out basket: As a practical matter, applying the standard right of way rule to a roundabout would create havoc in them and they’d never get built. Imagine the chaos of drivers stopping to let just one car into the roundabout, let alone a stream of them. Soon the circle would be blocked even if there were no rear-end collisions.

But a formal answer to Joan’s question comes from Brian Walsh, state  highways’ traffic design and operations manager.

“The ‘yield to the right law’ is the rule at a standard intersection where the intersection is considered an  ‘uncontrolled intersection.’ Brian said. “Many neighborhood intersections are typically uncontrolled, therefore the basic rule is for the driver to ‘yield to the vehicle approaching’ from the right when arriving at the intersection.  If an intersection has a stop or yield sign or signal on an approach, it is considered a ‘controlled intersection,”’and the placement of the traffic control defines the rules for drivers.

“Roundabouts are considered controlled intersections that have a ‘yield’ and ‘one-way’ sign on every approach. The ‘one way’ and ‘yield’ signs direct drivers to proceed to the right of the central island, and to yield to anyone already circulating in the roundabout in front of them. The signs are the determining factors, per state statute, in assigning fault in the event of a collision.”

A reader who signed only as Ben offered another possible rationalization in a comment on the Road Warrior blog at kitsapsun.com. He notes that state law regarding entering an intersection also says ““…after slowing or stopping, the driver shall yield the right-of-way to any vehicle in the intersection…” If a car in a roundabout might be considered “in the intersection,” that might cover it too.

The in basket: Retired orthopedic surgeon Larry Iversen noted the recent Road Warrior column on the reason for speed humps and suggested a modification.

“I understand that the idea of speed humps is to discourage drivers from exceeding the speed limit,” he wrote, “but why punish those of us who drive the speed limit with a jolt that aggravates the pinched nerve in my neck, even when I am traveling the speed limit?

“There must be a civil engineer smart enough to design humps that are comfortable to cross at the posted legal speed, but will create an uncomfortable ‘jolt’ at higher speeds, such as 10 mph higher.”

The out basket: Jeff Shea, traffic engineer for Kitsap County, and Jerry Hauth, street engineer for Bremerton, replied to Larry’s suggestion,

“One of the biggest challenges with speed humps or tables is that all drivers, law abiding and not, must traverse these traffic control devices,” Jeff said. “Because of this, under our local streets traffic-calming program we require approval of 70 percent of the affected motorists before installing them. “The size and shape of the speed humps are designed to slow traffic well below the speed limit so speeds between the devices are close to the posted speed limit.  If the speed humps were designed for the posted speed, chances are we would still see the high speeds between them.

“Design of these devices is a tricky task,” he said.  “The first variable would be the motorist. Who would be the average driver or lowest common denominator for the design; a healthy young individual, or an older individual with back problems?

“The other variable would be the vehicle; many suspension systems are different with more or less tolerance for bumps than others.  Picking an average or less than average for the design would be a challenge to ensure the hump was traversable by most motorists, but not too traversable to allow too high of speeds.

“There are the three basic configurations; speed bumps, speed humps, and speed tables.  Speed bumps are very abrupt and normally found in parking lots. They are constructed to get motorists below 5 mph.  Speed humps, usually 3 inches high by about 12 feet long, are comfortably traversed by a majority of motorists at a speed of about 10 mph and tables, usually 3 inches high by 22 feet long, are designed for about 15 mph.

“Because of that, and for safety and liability concerns, Kitsap County constructs accepted industry-standard speed hump profiles.  County speed humps are built to Institute of Transportation Engineer’s standards.

“The county builds speed humps using asphalt.  So even though we try to meet ITE standards there is always some minor variance in the dimensions.  This is due to the forming and compaction characteristics of asphalt.  It is difficult to get exact dimensions with asphalt.”

Jerry said, “Most ( if not all) of the engineers that I have interacted with over the years have not been big advocates of speed humps for numerous reasons. You may want to ask emergency responders what they think about them.

“The initial speed bumps caused a radical bounce, which made them acceptable for a parking lot, where a vehicle should be going very slowly, but not on roads. The more recent introduction of speed humps and tables was intended for low volume, relatively flat roads, with the expectation of setting up a rocking effect in the vehicles that people find very unpleasant and be forced to slow down. However, the general effect typically is you almost need to crawl over them in order to not destroy your vehicle or your body.

“The answer to the doctor’s question is that sadly we civil engineers have not come up with a design for these that can effectively slow the vehicles down, without the dramatic impacts to both vehicle and occupant.”