Monday, May 10, 1999
COMMUTING COLUMN
Sun hazard: Drivers blinded by the light
BY TANYA ALBERT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Sunny morning with temperatures headed toward 80 degrees. Not a cloud in the sky.
It's the kind of day that conjures images of being 5 years old and having nothing to but go outside and play.
Well, for most of us that's the image.
Not so for commuters living on the west side of town who have to head east to get to work in the morning.
Their image: Traffic backed up on the freeways.
It's a phenomenon called sun delays.
For anyone who has only heard the term on morning traffic reports and hasn't experienced them, sun delays go something like this:
Crusing east along the northern portion of Interstate 275 from Indiana. Windows are down, radio on. The speedometer at a steady 65 mph. Sun streams in on the face.
But as the car turns around the bend just after Hamilton Avenue near Surf Cincinnati — wham!
That sun is no longer warm and friendly. It's punishing. It's like turning on the hall light in the middle of the night.
Blinded drivers can barely see where they heck they're going.
Brake lights erupt. Radio listeners tune in to traffic reports. About 10 minutes just got added on to the daily commute.
Faster under clouds
“There's a significant difference in traffic flow when it's cloudy,” says Jack Neu of Monfort Heights.
It's faster.
Commuter Mark Jackson says the sunnier it is, the more traffic seems to back up.
“It's just a part of life,” the Green Township resident says.
Sun delays have become a rite of spring and summer in certain parts of the Tristate:
• I-275 eastbound from Winton Road to Reed Hartman Highway.
• I-74 eastbound at the northbound I-75 merge.
• I-71/75 northbound at the cut-in-the-hill between Covington's 12th Street exit and the Fort Wright exit.
• I-75 northbound from Hopple Street to Mitchell Avenue.
And “right now the sun delays are in the meat of the rush hour,” says John Phillips, who has been delivering radio traffic reports from the air for two decades.
The exact time when the sun hits drivers in the face will get increasingly early as we head toward summer. But some fraction of eastbound drivers can expect delays until July.
Sunglasses would help
So what's a commuter to do on sunny days other than the obvious leaving early?
I went out for a test drive last week.
As I rounded a corner on I-275 near Winton Road, wearing sun glasses helped a bit. My visor added a little protection, too.
Even with that, the sun still made me squint to see the red brake lights ahead of me.
So I was amazed at the number of drivers in cars, mini-vans and trucks around me who were attempting the curve without any sunglasses.
They had to be driving blindly.
Mr. Neu has noticed the same thing.
“What a great promotion for a radio station to get out there and give away cheap sunglasses,” he says.
Not a bad idea.
There may still be some back-ups. But I'd feel a little safer knowing the driver behind me could at least see the road.
Tanya Albert's “Commuting” column appears each Monday. Contact her at tmalbert@enquirer.com
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