New Signs, Striping Aim To Improve Safety On Mount Diablo Roads

MOUNT DIABLO STATE PARK (KCBS) – Looking to prevent accidents and confrontations between drivers and bicyclists, new striping and signs are in place on and along the narrow roadways up Mount Diablo.

It's been a year in the making, and an effort to regulate the traffic through the foothills of Mount Diablo State Park now is in effect.

"The idea is: Let's get all along here, folks," said KCBS and Chronicle outdoors editor Tom Stienstra.

"All the conflicts happen, according to the Highway Patrol, when people are going different speeds, trying to share the same space."

Stienstra said that the curvy and sometimes crowded roadways can be the site of accidents or angry confrontations.

To make the roads safer, double yellow, no passing lines have been painted and new signs have been installed.

"For uphill traffic, there are signs for cars that say, 'Do not pass bikes on blind curves,'" Steinstra explained. "On downhill lanes, for bikes, 'Avoid crashes, slow down.'"

Stienstra adds that a new state law requiring bicyclists to move aside when five or more vehicles are behind them also should help.

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