Q: There’s a new sign on the eastbound I-10 Freeway near the Main Street exit in Cabazon. Rest stops and the miles to them are listed, but what do the numbers on the lighted portion of the sign mean? They aren’t always the same — but occasionally change.
– Paul Russell, Desert Hot Springs
A: Those numbers, off to one side like an electronic vertical scoreboard, show how many parking slots are available in real time at each rest stop for tractor-trailer drivers so they can take a break and even catch a snooze.
“AVAILABLE TRUCK PARKING” signs along the 10 went live on Aug. 25. Various states are using the strategy, called the Truck Parking Availability System, or plan to.
“Cameras at these rest areas will continuously monitor the number of commercial trucks entering and exiting these rest areas to transmit real-time parking availability to seven digital highway signs along I-10 and third-party mobile traveler apps,” Caltrans spokesperson Eric Dionne told Honk in an email.
“Historically,” Dionne said, “commercial truck drivers along I-10 have faced challenges finding available spaces, which can result in choosing unauthorized or unsafe parking locations along highway shoulders (and) on- and off-ramps, or on local streets.
“This technology will also reduce the amount of time and fuel truckers spend searching for a safe place to park and lower the risk of drivers continuing to work while fatigued.”
Those numbers are for truckers only — cars and other passenger vehicles are on their own, but Honk has dropped in on rest areas plenty of times and never had a problem finding a slot for the Honkmobile.
Q: Bluetooth and the 405 Freeway — please keep asking about this issue! I have Android Auto, and the signal drops, too. It used to be worse. I think it happens at Bolsa Avenue and Springdale Street as well.
– Carol Bobke, Mission Viejo
A: Deal.
Carol’s missive, of course, is about how so many Honk readers have noticed their connections failing while tooling along the 405, especially near Beach Boulevard on the Huntington Beach-Westminster border.
Honk has explored several possible causes, including the relocation of transmission lines for the 405-widening project a couple of years ago. He rang up Southern California Edison.
“I did check with our subject-matter experts here, and they let me know that we have no indicators that the transmission lines are the source of the Bluetooth issue,” said Diane Castro, a SCE spokeswoman.
Honk figures the best bet to solve the mystery is with the help of some newfangled gadget the Federal Communications Commission might have in its quiver. However, the agency has told him it is operating in limited fashion during the government shutdown, so any help from its experts appears on hold.
HONKIN’ FACT: Did you hear about that United Airlines flight, going from Denver to Los Angeles, that suffered a cracked windshield at 36,000 feet — sending glass fragments into the cockpit causing lacerations to a pilot’s arm and prompting an emergency landing?
The culprit that day, Oct. 16, was likely a collision with a 2.4-pound weather balloon anchored by a bag of sand for ballast, The Associated Press says. Windborne Systems said it follows Federal Aviation Administration rules, keeps the agency updated and also provides notices to pilots. Windborne has since tweaked its software, too.
“I find this extremely concerning, and unacceptable in the case of a collision, regardless of what the official regulations are,” Windborne CEO John Dean said on X. “It resulted in injury to a pilot, which I’m simply not OK with whatsoever.”
To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk. Twitter: @OCRegisterHonk
