Q. Bertha has stepped up to rid what appears to be the last remaining semi tractor-trailer rigs bent on bringing excessive speed, careless driving, noise, windblown dust and debris to narrow two-lane Old Bainbridge Road. To date, with Bertha’s due diligence we have identified three big-rig trucking companies who continue to inflict this otherwise peaceful part of town with their reckless disturbance and public safety violations.
They are trucks with painted identifying names: Golden Flake; UNFI (a County wide food distributor); and one with Drive Werner Companies on the cab doors. There is one displaying no license plate and one hauling sod on blue and yellow wooden pallets stacked so high the sod was leaning several degrees off center trying to fall off the truck while stroking overhanging tree branches.A. Street Scene is full steam ahead getting these last few scofflaws turned around and back on the 4 lane highway built for large trucks; US 27 (SR-63) north of Tallahassee.
Q. Martha brings her many years of observations to the US 90 - State Road 59 intersection: drivers on SR-59 are not stopping at the stop sign and speed on US 90 is enough to kill someone running a stop sign.A. Martha you won’t see a flashing beacon at a location until certain parameters are met which we won’t go into here. Sadly excessive speed and running stop signs are resolved by three things: the death of the violator, incarceration of the violator for causing a death, or stiff monetary citations issued by law enforcement. When word gets around very expensive traffic citations are issued at a location the violations usually cease.
At least for awhile. If, as you say Martha, law enforcement officers are taking breaks at the Hilltop Country Store then let’s solicit their help in stopping a tragedy by positioning themselves closer to the intersection to enforce the law by writing tickets.We ask our traffic safety professionals responsible for this location to take a look to determine if line of sight for the SR-59 stop signs is impeded by foliage or have lost their reflective luster and need replacing. Perhaps R-1 oversized 48”x48” stop signs are warranted.The same rule of enforcing traffic laws applies to speeding in downtown Monticello, Martha, and improper use of the center turn lane on West Washington Street. Yes, we have had many good reports of the improvements done in and around the Courthouse Circle.
Q. Allen reports several areas where guide lines are missing when there are two left turn lanes painted across a multilane road.A. Allen, although our local and state traffic engineers do their best to keep painted traffic lines visible in all kinds of weather, when the shorter white skip-lines (guide lines) transition a major travel-way like Thomasville Road and Capital Circle it is similar to what maintenance personnel have to do when painting the Golden Gate Bridge. When one sweep around town having all pavement restored or one length of the GG bridge is complete you go right back to start over at the original begin point.
Q. Patricia, without benefit of the compass rose, believes traffic would flow more smoothly if lane designations at Capital Circle and Hermitage Boulevard were to be rearranged.A. Although it might appear haphazard, assigning which lane or lanes will be left turn, right turn or straight is accomplished primarily by vehicle counts. Occasionally geometry may come into play but the number of vehicles per hour in each direction is what traffic engineers look at. This field monitoring system is also used when assigning the amount of green time to traffic signals, except this is done by computer adjustments each millisecond.
Q. Will rides a steel frame bike everywhere and says: when stopped six feet behind the stop line my bike usually triggers the signal coil but there are dozens of intersections that are not activated by my bike. Often there is no pedestrian signal button. It’s another way cyclists are treated as second class citizens. It would be great if the city would increase the sensitivity of all its coils and test them regularly. But this is still no help to cyclists on aluminum or carbon fiber frames.A. It’s a sure enough dilemma, Will, if those nonresponsive intersections you speak of were programmed with high enough sensitivity for small target bicycles the magnetic field would overlap adjacent lanes bringing up a left turn arrow when no vehicles are in the left turn lane. The dilemma I speak of is that of bikes constructed of nonferrous materials.
By no means does Florida want anyone riding bicycles to feel like second class citizens, on the contrary, FDOT has a separate department to promote bicycle riding and bicycle safety. Their ultimate goal is to build into every design, future and present the transport of people riding bicycles. These dutiful ladies and gentleman ride bicycles everywhere, too, and take pride in their responsibility for the safety of all. They have published safety guides for cyclists geared also to inform motorists of bicycle safety. Visit fdot.gov/agencyresources/bicyclesafety.When on my bike I treat every intersection where I am unable to bring up the green light by activating a pedestrian signal as if I were facing a stop sign. I check all directions making sure the traffic is clear then run like hell across the street - bike in tow.
Philip Stuart is a retired Florida State Trooper, Traffic Operations Projects Engineer and Forensics Expert Witness. Write to crashsites@embarqmail.com.
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