A reader, Tom Gump, wrote in to ask about the traffic light at Old Pasco Road and County Road 54 intersection in Wesley Chapel.  He wondered if they had changed the timing of the light for those turning onto State Road 54. He said it seems they sit at that light by 7-Eleven a lot longer than in the past and traffic seems to be backing up farther on Old Pasco Road waiting for the light to change.

Actually, Tom is not the only one who has commented on that, so it was worth checking out.

Kris Carson, DOT’s public information officer for our district, said the traffic signal sensors are out due to construction, and the right turn lane has been removed due to a traffic shift for the six-lane reconstruction of County Road 54.
Apparently there are no quick fixes for motorists traveling that route.

Pothole promises
Well, leaving the problems of Pasco County for a moment, let’s motor south to Hillsborough County.

If you have to weave a little to avoid potholes on Hillsborough County roads, there’s good news. The county has created what it calls its Quality Service Guarantees Program.  The program offers residents service guarantees from 18 different departments or divisions.

As for potholes, Public Works guarantees that it will respond to pothole reports within 72 hours of the report.

Now, three days might sound like a long time to some of you. It’s all relative. I recall a large pothole in Pasco County that I would drive around – and occasionally into when not in my pothole-alert mode or when it was concealed by rain – that was there for a couple of weeks or longer before it was filled.

Another Public Works guarantee: it will respond to reports of damaged regulatory signs such as stop signs, yields or malfunctioning traffic signals within 24 hours of the report.

If you’d like to get this straight from the horse’s mouth, or to put it in 21st-century jargon, from the county’s Web site, visit http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org., click on the A-Z Index on the left side of the window, then scroll down to “Quality Service Guarantees.” You’ll find everything from “water meters will be read and billed correctly” (Hmm, do I smell a story behind that?) to free boarding of stray pets that have been picked up by Animal Services (if the pets are registered and microchipped) and Animal Services does not attempt to notify the owner within one business day that they have the pet.

Appeasing road rage
To show how screwed up our thinking has become – or is it just me? – what about the left lane loiterers law Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton keeps trying to get passed? The bill says that if you are driving in the left lane and know (or reasonably should know) that you are being overtaken by a car traveling at a higher rate of speed, you have to move over for that car to pass. Failure to move over is a ticketable offense and would also be added to the list of offenses that identify you as an aggressive driver. The exception is if you, yourself, are passing another car or going to make a left turn.

The thought is that left lane drivers going too slow force tailgating or lane changing and cause road rage. Now, I totally agree that no driver should be in the left lane driving under the posted speed limit, but let’s be honest. How often does that happen? I do a lot of driving every day, and what I observe is that, except in cases where a driver plans to turn left, the left lane drivers invariably exceed the speed limit. The tailgating and lane switching is done, not because the left lane driver is going too slow, but because the aggressive driver is going even faster than the speeder ahead of him.

Let us reason together. Suppose the speed limit is 55 mph, and drivers in the left lane (commonly called the fast lane) are actually going 55 mph. Now we who drive the highways and byways of Florida very much all know that hardly anyone actually goes the speed limit, so most of the drivers in the left lane will be zipping along somewhere between 5 and 30 mph over the speed limit. The way I interpret it, the bill, should it ever pass, says, in effect, that a person going 55 mph who does not make way for the driver going 70 mph could be ticketed for slowing down traffic and impeding the flow of the speeders, forcing the speeder to tailgate and do other illegal or unsafe maneuvers. Does this make sense? Only in Florida.

What kind of dilemma would this make for FHP? The trooper sees a car speeding 15 mph over the legal speed limit of 55 mph, but because the car in front of the speeder is only going 5 mph over the speed limit, the speeder will undoubtedly first tailgate (illegal), then zig-zag lanes to maintain his illegal speed of 70 mph. (Not an unusual scenario, by the way.)

What’s a trooper to do? Go after the speeder/tailgater going 70 mph? Or go after the motorist going only 60 mph and ticket that motorist for not moving over for the speeder? And, while the trooper’s at it, kill two birds with one stone. That is, ticket the 60 mph driver twice, once for going 60 mph (too slow) and again for going 60 mph (too fast). Wow! A double-donut moment. (Sorry, troopers. I love you all, but I couldn’t resist.)

A well-known person, whose name I apologize I have forgotten, said that we spend millions and millions of tax-payer dollars searching for intelligent life in the universe. To what purpose, I ask. Is that going to solve any of our problems here on Earth? Will it stop road rage? He said it would be better if that money were spent searching for intelligent life in our own government. To which I say, amen.

Today’s bumper sticker (actually a Burma Shave sign)
Around the curve, lickety-split. Beautiful car, wasn’t it?

Carole Dickey is a staff writer and a Pasco County resident. Send your rants and raves about traffic and motorists in the Land O’ Lakes/Wesley Chapel/New Tampa areas to .

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A reader, Ken Clanton, shared this story.

“I was traveling north in the left lane of Bruce B. Downs the other day in very heavy traffic. Speeds were ranging from 35 to 50. I glanced in my mirror and the car behind me was so close I couldn’t see the front half of his hood.

“When that happens I back off and allow a little more stopping room between me and the car in front. My tailgater would back off a little and then come rushing up to me again. The idea, I suppose, is to threaten me in the hope I’d dissolve in fear and he can move forward a notch.

“The car in the right lane beside him turned into Amberly Drive and let my tailgater move to the right lane. She (I discovered) began tailgating the car to my right, again backing off and rushing forward repeatedly. We had to stop well back from the light at Tampa Palms.

“When the light changed, the car to my right turned into Tampa Palms and the woman squeezed into my lane just ahead of me. She switched lanes a couple more times before we got to the light at Tampa Palms/Commerce Park. She pulled into a turn lane to turn left at N. Tampa Palms and had to wait for the turn signal. I had to stop, too, but my front bumper was even with her rear wheel. For all her weird driving, she was no further ahead and she had wasted gas and added unnecessary wear and tear to her car.

“The moral is Bruce B. Downs has not yet qualified as a NASCAR track and gaining a momentary tenth of a second between traffic lights is an exercise in futility.”

I’m sharing Ken’s story with my readers because it is a perfect setup for the subject of today’s column on when victims become suspects.

The unnamed woman in Ken’s story would be classified as an aggressive driver. Most of us who drive have to cope with aggressive drivers on a daily basis. In Ken’s story, he and other motorists on the road were the “victims” of the aggressive driver. Ken did the right thing by continuing to drive safely.
Dep. Jay Galassi of the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office gave a few examples of how a victim of aggressive drivers can become the suspect in a criminal act. The aggressive driver commits a traffic violation and the victim reacts by committing a criminal act.

Galassi is a community-relations officer in the Sheriff’s Aggressive Driving Offender Watch, or SHADOW, program.

“Innocent people who are the victims of aggressive drivers many times follow the aggressive drivers and they have words with them,” Galassi said. “What happens is the victim of the aggressive driver becomes the one who commits road rage, which is a criminal act.”

Other things Galassi said not to do if you want to avoid committing a criminal act: Don’t shout threats out your window, don’t do a wheel jerk, pretending you’re going to hit him, don’t threaten him with some object you’ve made to look like a gun, don’t tap your brakes to discourage a tailgater, don’t make an abrupt lane change to get out of his way.

Galassi said one way to get rid of tailgaters if you are on a multi-lane road is just to let up on the gas a little. As you slow down, other cars will be going faster and the tailgater will switch to another lane as soon as he gets an opening.

“The key is to remain calm,” Galassi said. “You’re doing the right thing; let them go around you.”

A common complaint from motorists is that an aggressive driver not only will tailgate, but will call the other safe drivers names and exhibit other obnoxious behavior when he passes them. Galassi said he loves it when they do that to him while he’s driving his unmarked shadow car. He just rolls down his tinted window and says, “What?” The aggressive driver sees the uniform, his jaw drops, he stutters, he backs off.

“Just think about that when you see aggressive drivers,” Galassi said. “I do the paybacks for you.”

Lane closure
The northbound lane of Sun Lake Boulevard at Lutz Lake Fern Road is closed through March 20 for roadway repair. No detour required.

Today’s bumper sticker
A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

Carole Dickey is a staff writer and a Pasco County resident.  Send your rants and raves about traffic and motorists in the Land O’ Lakes/Wesley Chapel/New Tampa areas to .

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Well, I’m in love.

Last week I had an opportunity to view the latest road weapon in the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office arsenal.

The object that made this cold, cynical heart go pitty pat was a 2006 Dodge Charger, but not your run-of-the-mill Dodge Charger. This lean, mean, stalking machine could be your worst nightmare – if you are an aggressive driver.

In a magnificent stroke of understatement, this super high-performance, unmarked car looks – well – normal, but throbbing inside that dark pearl gray body all kinds of police power technology awaits a push of the button: a video recording system, flashing lights, siren, radio, radar detection equipment, computer, and an emergency message system that scrolls warnings in red letters across the rear window. James Bond, eat your heart out.

Traveling alongside us on the road, the car looks like one of us, but when it’s chase time, when the car sheds its Clark Kent persona to reveal super Charger and the deputy activates the emergency lights, the car flashes its red and blue signal from lights concealed inside the tinted windshield, inside the fog lights, inside the grill work. Everywhere you look, this car has flashing lights, a moving light show. The transformation is amazing, like stepping from Kansas into the land of Oz. Lions and tigers and aggressive drivers, oh my! I love it!

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I noticed an oddity the other day while driving on Land O’ Lakes Boulevard. I saw a car that did not have anywhere on its body a ribbon-shaped magnet. Honest. No magnets.

OK, OK, I’m being facetious. There may be more than one car on the road that does not sport a ribbon magnet.

What I have noticed, though, is the proliferation of messages that now appear in ribbon shape. Didn’t this all begin a few years ago with something like “Support our troops” in colors that were usually yellow or red, white and blue or camouflage?

Today magnetmania carries messages over highways and byways in themes ranging from patriotic to medical to animal rights to family matters to sports and on and on. Any day now I expect to see the ultimate message – “Whatever!”

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not anti-ribbon magnets. In fact, I have been known to gaze in admiration and awe when I see 10 or 15 multicolored beribboned messages neatly aligned on the back of a car or truck. I guess that comes from driving a little Toyota that doesn’t offer a lot of blank space for proclaiming personal sentiments.

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Do lovebugs have any redeeming qualities?

I asked myself that question the other morning as I traversed the battle zone along U.S. 41 enduring a lovebug barrage – rat-a-splat-splat, rat-a-splat-splat – on my windshield. Squinting to see between the disarranged body parts smearing my vision, I contemplated the question. What possible good are they?

I recalled hearing that the adult female life span is 2-3 days, during which there seems to be only one thing on her little mind, and that one thing definitely includes a travel companion.

Well, I can already hear a few readers out there thinking, “Wish that’s all I had to think about 24 hours a day!”

Before you get too enamored of the idea, keep in mind that their mealtime is also spent in their Kama sutra position. Do you really believe you would be able to fully appreciate a loaded Domino’s pizza, a cup of Starbucks best, an Applebee’s salad, chocolate anything and other favorite soul food while locked in a 24-hour lovers embrace? Hmmm, that’s food for thought, isn’t it?

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The other evening while driving east on State Road 52 just before dusk, I spotted a deer in a field. It was such a delight to see that graceful animal leaping in the grass instead of dead by the side of the road, and it got me to thinking about roadkill in general.

I remember one day a couple of years ago while driving out of Lake Park, I saw a large gopher turtle in the middle of the road. Since I was on a park road, it was a simple matter to stop my car and get out to move the turtle off the road. Even so, I felt a little awkward about delaying other motorists. However, when one truck pulled around my car and the young man driving it honked at me and gave me a thumbs up sign, I realized I was not alone in trying to avoid this particular roadkill.

About a year later, after covering a story in Odessa, I was on my way back to the office, driving around an S-curve in one of our rare, remaining rural areas when I again saw a large turtle in the road. It was in the other lane and had decided with its turtle brain, perhaps influenced by big things moving all around it, to stop, tuck in its head and hide inside its shell (I’ve felt that way a time or two myself). Since it was sitting just around the curve where a driver would not see it until it was too late, I figured its chance for a long and happy life was rapidly diminishing.

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A reader approached me the other day with a question: “When you notice a traffic signal that is out, who should you call to report it?”

A name we’ve all come to know and love, Larry Coggins, public affairs officer with the Florida Highway Patrol (who should probably share my byline), had the answer. Call the local public works office that handles traffic lights.

In Hillsborough County, the numbers are 622-1940 if within Tampa city limits, 744-5670 if in Hillsborough County outside city limits, and 231-6130, which is a non-emergency dispatch number for all locations.

In Pasco County, the number to call between 6:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. is (727) 847-8187.  During other hours, call (727) 847-8102, which is the fire and rescue non-emergency number.

Coggins added one reminder: When you approach an intersection where the light is out, you must treat the intersection like a four-way stop.

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Frequently on my way to work, depending on the route I take, I pass a sign advertising traffic school. I’m always a little curious about what goes on in traffic school, though I sincerely hope I never have to go “back to school” to get a refresher on things I should have taken more seriously in driver’s ed.
A few years ago when I lived in California, in Hollywood country, there were always ads in the paper for traffic school teachers. Since we are talking Hollywood, the ads always specified they were looking for comedians. I guess after you’ve paid the traffic school fee and committed yourself to an eight-hour lecture, a comedian might help lighten your mood.
Nowadays, at least here in Florida, drivers can attend an online traffic school. Since I have rarely seen a motorist abide by the posted speed limit and have frequently seen motorists doing other ticketable offenses (and have witnessed motorists getting ushered to the side of the road accompanied by flashing red and blue lights), I’m going to make an assumption that there are many drivers out there that will one day consider traffic school as an option to prevent points being assessed to their driving record. Perhaps even some of my readers?
So I decided to check out the online traffic school, and here are a few pertinent points I learned from the Web site, http://www.florida-traffic-school.com.
The fee to attend Florida Traffic School online is $34.95, which the site states is less than attending an eight-hour in-class traffic school. The time it takes to complete the class is a minimum four hours, but you can take as long as you like, keeping in mind you want to finish well before your assigned court due date.
You can attend traffic school for moving and nonmoving traffic violations that would result in points being assessed to your driving record, except for criminal violations and CDL (commercial) drivers charged with serious traffic violations while in their commercial motor vehicle. Also, you can take the course only once in any 12-month period and no more than five times in your lifetime. Of course, none of my readers would be five-time offenders, right?
The exam consists of 40 questions, and you must score 80 percent or more to pass. For those of you who are math challenged, that is 32 correct answers out of 40 questions. Now here’s a helpful note: You can retake the exam as many times as needed to pass. The questions will be different, but they will cover the same material. You can also review the chapter information during the course. In school, we called that using your notes when taking an exam.
You have to notify the court of your intention to attend traffic school. For exact information and procedures, consult the traffic division in the clerk’s office where you received your citation. In Hillsborough County the number is 276-8200 and in Pasco County it is (727) 847-2411.
Many other traffic school questions are answered on the Web site.

Traffic blog
While surfing the Internet, you can post comments about traffic by going to http://www.tbo.com and clicking on “Community” at the top of the page, then click on “Traffic” on the left hand side of the screen. See you there.

More about rain
Sometimes a couple of basic reminders about driving in the rain are helpful, even to my experienced Florida readers. As we head into summer storms and hurricane season, here are two reminders from Hillsborough County Emergency Operations that I thought particularly worth mentioning.
u When heavy rain causes flood waters to pool on streets, drivers can unknowingly steer into a deep body of water, such as a canal or pond.
u Electricity from streetlights and power poles may be conducted through standing water, causing a deadly shock to anyone coming in contact with it.
Those are thoughts too grim to close with, so to lighten up the mood, here is:
Today’s bumper sticker
I don’t know how I got over the hill without getting to the top.

Carole Dickey is a staff writer. who lives in Pasco County.  Share your blogs here or send your rants and raves about traffic and motorists in the Land O’ Lakes/Wesley Chapel/New Tampa areas to . 

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I love sleeping in a Florida rainstorm. Well, not actually in the rain. In a bed, under a roof, cozy and dry while sheets of rain pummel my windows. That’s an Ivory soap moment – 99 and 44/100 percent pure pleasure.
Driving in a Florida rainstorm, however, is not my idea of fun. One minute you’re bopping along with rain sprinkles on your windshield, the next instant you’re deluged with enough rain to raise the lake levels six inches, and you’re lucky if you can see two feet in front of you.
Which, amazingly, doesn’t stop most of our Florida motorists. In fact, it seldom even slows them down. They plow nose-first into that blinding rainstorm with more guts, confidence and determination than professional bullriders focused on an eight-second ride (you know who you are).
I was thinking about that the other day as I, like a sheep, was barreling right along with the other drivers during one of those pelting rains. It seemed safer to stay with the flow than try to slow down and pull off the road and get rearended in the process. Yeah, right, that’s it.
The scenario got me to thinking about what ingredients make up a Florida highway. I know in cold climates, such as Montana (where they only have two seasons – winter and July), they add materials to make the highway resistant to damage from freezing. In places like Death Valley, Calif., the roads are resistant to damage from sizzling heat. So, do they add anything to Florida roads to help them bear up under excessive water?
Not really wanting to lie in bed awake all night debating the question or, worse yet, falling asleep and dreaming about roads (unless, of course, they are leading to Hawaii), I talked with Christine McDonald, public information officer with the Florida Department of Transportation. She said Florida’s roadways are designed to remove water from the driving surface as quickly and as safely as possible. Also, the roads use mixtures that include anti-strip agents or hydrated lime that are tested at the design stage to ensure that they meet the minimum moisture requirement.
She didn’t say anything about roads being designed to withstand speedmania, but we have that under control, right? Right.
More red-light enlightenment
In The Loop reader Chris Dohrmann wondered what the traffic laws say about turning left on a red light if you are on a one-way street with two lanes and are turning onto a one-way street with two lanes.
Our ever-patient answer man, Florida Highway Patrol trooper Larry Coggins said yes, that is the one exception to the turn right on red rule. You can turn left on red if both streets are one-way and the usual three conditions apply. Those conditions, you’ll remember if you read my previous column, are 1) the motorist comes to a complete stop; 2) there is no oncoming traffic; and 3) there is no sign saying you can’t turn on red. Coggins said it doesn’t make any difference how many lanes the one-way streets have.
Current roadwork
u Fletcher Avenue at 42nd Avenue and North Palm Drive in the USF area, eastbound/westbound lane will be closed during daytime only for roadway widening/improvements and signal work. The completion day is Aug. 15.
u Dale Mabry at Hudson Lane will be closed 24 hours a day through Feb. 16 while drilling work is being done. Motorists will detour on Dale Mabry, Floyd Road and Orange Grove Drive.
Today’s bumper sticker
Advice – don’t give it. The wise don’t need it; the fools don’t heed it.

Carole Dickey is a staff writer. who lives in Pasco County.  Send your rants and raves about traffic and motorists in the Land O’ Lakes/Wesley Chapel/New Tampa areas to . 

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As we march into 2006 – or, since this is a traffic column, I should say motor into 2006 – I suspect there are more than a few readers out there whose eyes, which a short time ago feasted on holiday buffets, now feast on new car models.
For those of you lucky, smart or rich enough to have made it through Christmas shopping with money left over for car shopping, you might want to check out the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Web site, http://www.safercar.gov. NHTSA recently completed its first round of front and side impact crash tests on new vehicles already in dealer showrooms and found five vehicles worthy of five-star ratings, with five stars being the highest rating in both crash and rollover testing.
New model year 2006 ratings are available for 14 passenger cars, four SUVs, two vans and one pickup truck, plus previous years’ test results on other models.
Their pamphlet, “Buying a Safer Car 2006,” helps buyers decide which vehicle to buy based on the vehicle’s safety in construction and features. You can also pick up some helpful tips on tire ratings, equipment/maintenance and defects/recalls.
A word about gas mileage: Don’t necessarily believe what the window sticker says. As gas prices soar and more sophisticated car electronics track the mileage accurately, drivers have become increasingly aware of the discrepancy between sticker statements and gas gauge reality.
The Environmental Protection Agency provides fuel economy data that is posted on the window stickers of new vehicles. On Jan. 10, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it is proposing new test methods for calculating the fuel economy estimates. This is still in the discussion stage. The problem with the current system is that it doesn’t reflect actual driving conditions. During the EPA tests, certain things are controlled, like the stop-and-go time, the weight in the car, the air drag against the car, the temperature, which affects performance and other things.
For more on this topic, visit http://www.epa.gov/fueleconomy.

Current construction projects
Interstate 75 southbound from the vicinity of State Road 56 to south of County Line Road is being widened to provide an additional lane on Interstate 275 southbound.
The project also includes resurfacing I-75 from County Line Road to the Cypress Creek Bridge and installing a median barrier guardrail system on I-275 from U.S. 41 to I-75/I-275 interchange.
The projected completion time is late 2006.
State Road 52 from Moon Lake Road to the Suncoast Parkway is being widened from two to six lanes.
The projected completion date is fall 2008.
S. R. 54 from Mitchell Bypass (Little Road area) to east of Gunn Highway is being widened from two to six lanes.
The projected completion date is spring 2006.
Hanna Avenue at Thatcher Avenue is having a sewer main replaced beginning Jan. 30 with anticipated completion Feb. 24.
Motorists will experience a detour to Olive, Idlewild and Hubert avenues.

Today’s bumper sticker
“Lead me not into temptation. I can find it myself.” Submitted by In the Loop reader Irwin Schuster, New Tampa.

Carole Dickey is a staff writer who lives in Pasco County.  Send your rants and raves about traffic and motorists in the Land O’ Lakes/Wesley Chapel/New Tampa areas to .

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