New York City cabbies drive like maniacs. They flow down the street in a frenzy of squealing tires, revving engines and honking horns.
But there is an order to the chaos – like impassioned music or dancing, if you will.
Flowing in and out of the road’s painted lines, the city’s Yellow Medallion cabs signal to each other with beeps and waves. After a few weeks, you notice patterns emerging from what seems an uncontrolled mess.
Here in Tampa, it’s another story altogether.
In my experience so far, I have yet to encounter a cab that didn’t just cut someone off, pull across several lanes to make a last-minute turn or put it in reverse and drive backward down the road.
That last example was the case last night. Coming home from a friend’s house in Ybor Heights, I was rolling innocently down Tampa Street toward downtown when I saw telltale white lights coming at me.
This cab was unabashedly going in the wrong direction, backward, up the street. Giving him wide berth, I got a peek at the situation while passing, shaking my head.
I guess he’d been hailed and was backing up to pick up a fare. Yes, it was late and I was the only car on the road. That doesn’t make it right.
Think I’m uptight? I hope you’ll forgive. I cannot help it. I simply hate seeing this.
And in fairness, cabs are not the only vehicles I see committing such heinous offenses at the hands of their operators.
Let me just say this: If you miss a turn, spot a friend on the sidewalk or whatever, please don’t shift into reverse. Turn right, then right, then right again and find the spot you passed.
My friend calls it “making a block.†I call it safe and common courtesy.
Re: Your invitation “Let’s talk traffic”:
1) If Gov. Bush has so much extra cash in the budget, can we please widen State Route 54, east of I-75 in Wesley Chapel!? Every weekday morning, traffic is backed up from Wesley Chapel to the New River development.
Keep in mind, that in the near future, New River will extend from 54 through to Curley Road. Curley now feeds three schools _ a high school, middle and an elementary school. To the south of 54, Meadow Point has a back entrance and goes through to Bruce B. Downs Boulevard. I have heard a second high school and a Wal-Mart Supercenter will be going in behind Applebee’s. Where is the traffic to go!?
2) We need to get over the cameras to catch red light runners. They have been in place and well know in Europe for more than 30 years. I can attest to that, personally. They are very affective at catching speeders in small villages, where speed limits are strictly enforced. As you drive down the road, you see a flash, and in about a week you will get a ticket in the mail, which you are expected to pay, in local tender only, at your local post office (or in my case at the local MP station, which also had a city polizei desk).
3) We might have fewer bottlenecks if we adopt the European rule of “zippering”. There’s even a word for it. Maybe active duty personnel from MacDill could help and will know what I am referring to.
But Tampa drivers are so aggressive, tailgate so often, and do not want to share the road, therefore, it might be a hard practice to enforce. It works like the concept of a zipper, especially when entering interstates from ramps. If every car would leave a a few car lengths between them and the car in front, we could all keep moving and just blend in, like a zipper.
Actually, this is law in Germany. As you accelerated on the entrance ramp, you look to be sure you are clear, put on your turn signal showing your intent to merge (this is a required practice in Germany EVERY time you changed lanes), and the driver behind you will then slow to let you in, expecting you to merge or change lanes. If you don’t change lanes after you have given your intent, he will be upset and show you as he drives on by.
In Tampa, when I use my signal to merge, even when it looks clear, by the time I get on the highway a car will be on my tail or worse, at my side blocking my merging onto the interstate, thereby forcing me to come to a stop or slow, and all the cars behind me on the entrance ramp as well. I see the backups all the way from Wesley Chapel to Tampa: on the 54 ramp, the 56 ramp, Bruce B. Downs, and especially the Bears-to-Busch I-275 stretch.
Do you think the “zipper” practice would ever catch on, without making it a law?
My commute takes 1-1.5 hours Mon.-Fri., unless schools are out. On weekends it takes 35-45 min., but I enjoy my job. My only stress is the drive.
Thanks for allowing me to share my thoughts.
—Debbie New
I get so many letters about bad drivers I thought I’d do another column on the subject; even though it hasn’t been quite six weeks since I wrote about the fella I saw driving down State Road 674 juggling a cell phone and a sandwich.
I think when we talk about “bad†drivers, we need to use a little perspective. Oh – I agree with you, there are plenty of them around, and from time-to-time, I get a kick out of describing their antics in this column.
But this week, I want to try and view the situation from a different perspective.
First, we need to remember it’s hard to be a good driver when you’re in the middle of a pack of cars going bumper-to-bumper on potholed, two-lane roads that should have been four-laned before all the new growth hit.
And second, other places have drivers that are much worse, so I thought it would be fun to write about some of the places I’ve driven and invite you to write in with your experiences in other places, as well.
Being an Army dependent in Europe in the 1960s, you’d think I’d say the worst place I’d driven was the German autobahn, but no, actually that was fun. Since there’s no speed limit there, people drive fast but they seem to be concentrating on what they’re doing. Of course, this was in 1965 and I was driving a 1961 Plymouth Valiant then; the kind that had what was called a “California rake†where the front end nearly scraped their road and the tail stuck straight up in the air. I also remember that it had a large spare tire space built so it was visible from the outside, right on top of the trunk area.
My experience on the autobahn in the Valiant I’d bought for $100 from a guy transferring back to the States was that of watching other cars zip by me while I tried to figure out what the signs meant, even though I (like all military dependents overseas) had taken the international driver’s test.
Based on my actions, there are probably still some Germans talking about what terrible drivers Americans are, and I consider myself a safe, defensive driver with a rather impressive record.
I wasn’t scared by the autobahn, although at times, I was confused.
In the Memphis, Tenn., area however, I was terrified. And I’d grown up on the New Jersey coast, where Atlantic City, Philadelphia and New York were only a little ways away. In fact, I can remember popping two wheels of a VW Beetle over the cobblestone curb in Washington Square and leaving it, unlocked, and bailing out without any worry of crime.
But living in West Memphis, Ark., and driving to work over the bridge to Memphis, on the Tennessee side, was a horror. Much worse than Atlanta before the infamous bypass – the one you can circle the city on several times before finding your exit – was built.
In the mid-’70s, I’d have called the Memphis-West Memphis bridge the scariest place in America.
South Shore residents think drivers here are bad now; back when big Buicks and Cadillacs had foot-long tail fins, I’d cross that Memphis bridge in the morning wondering if I’d ever get to see my family again.
We didn’t use cell phones or eat in the car as we rushed from place to place. But speedometers went to 120 mph, and people used every 8-cylinder, black-smoking, tailgating mile of them, sometimes coming so close to you that they’d have collided if you’d had one extra coat of paint.
Reminiscing is good because although some things were better “back then,†many things were not.
South Shore’s traffic problems are not unique. It’s just that those of us who have lived here awhile have been spoiled by the fact that until recently, we haven’t had to deal with what much of the world takes for granted every day.
u Readers are encouraged to send their comments and concerns to me at 3036 College Ave., Ruskin, FL 33570 or e-mail them to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with Road Raves in the subject line.
Penny Fletcher is the editor of The Tampa Tribune affiliates The Sun and the South Shore News
I read your “Behind the Wheel” column in Monday’s Tribune and felt compelled to share some of my experiences. I don’t have a commute story per se, but as a traveling salesman covering all of Florida I am on the road a lot and see all sorts of things. Since your “Behind the Wheel†series is sometimes about safe driving, I thought I’d offer a few tips that every driver should think about:
1) Relax and slow down. Many accidents occur due to overly aggressive drivers. That extra couple of miles per hour will only make a few minutes difference in your arrival time vs. a lot of unnecessary danger for others around you.
2) On a multilane road, don’t cruise in the left lane. Use the rightmost lane to cruise and the left lane to pass. People who cruise in the left lane often force other drivers to pass on the right which is dangerous.
3) Along the same theme, don’t cruise right next to another car. Get your pass done safely and move back to the right as soon as it is safe to do so. Cruising at the same speed as the person next to you causes backups behind you, tension for those who want to pass you, and leads to overly aggressive driving.
4) Use your mirrors. That guy behind you did not appear out of nowhere. He is obviously moving faster than you are. Move over and let him pass. Also, as you are planning a pass on the highway, look to see if someone is approaching at a faster rate. Don’t jump out in front of him. Let him pass, then execute your pass when the lane is clear.
5) When merging onto, or pulling onto a highway, consider that the traffic approaching is already at full speed and most likely merely passing through. Stay in the furthest right lane until you are at full speed before pulling into the passing lane. This is very important if the approaching traffic happens to be a truck. Trucks have a lot of momentum and require much longer stopping distances than cars. Give them room.
6) Use your headlights, day or night, on two lane roads so that others can see you approaching. This is particularly important if a rising or setting sun is behind you. You might not need your headlights to see where you are going, but they enable other drivers to see you. Along these same lines, use your headlights in any rainy condition. If your wipers are on, your headlights should be on.
7) In heavy congestion, ease up and let merging traffic in. That extra car length you gain by pinching someone off is not going to matter down the road.
8) Give motorcycles extra room. They are harder to see and provide a lot less protection for their operators than cars or trucks. A simple fender bender can be fatal to a biker. Give them room.
9) Finally, be nice. Getting angry at other driver accomplishes nothing but increasing out stress levels.
Safe Motoring,
Don Stevens
Clearwater, FL
Last week we wrote about the triple disaster for which a star-studded, all-day Let’s Get Motivated seminar was the catalyst. It began at 8 a.m., in the middle of rush hour, and featured such headliners as former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former heavyweight champ George Foreman _ and more. Stars, rush hour, 15,000 added cars _ all headed downtown.
Ouch.
Well a visiting reporter has written a website to extoll our ability to inspire a world class traffic jam just about anywhere in the Bay area. Our fame is spreading ...
“Anyone been to the West Coast of Florida recently?
“You can’t drive in the Tampa area at any time approximating rush hour. YOU CANNOT DRIVE IN THE TAMPA AREA, REALLY, AT ANY HOUR THIS TIME OF YEAR. AND I MEAN THAT.
“While in Florida last Friday to cover a little spring training, I found myself in bumper-to-bumper traffic on I-275 near downtown Tampa ... at 5:55 a.m. That afternoon, driving the 132 miles from Fort Myers back to Tampa took me three hours and 53 minutes. The Red Sox-Phils game that day had to be pushed back two hours because the Philadelphia team bus was stuck in traffic coming down I-75 from Clearwater.
“I mean this: I am in some pretty heavy traffic at times in the New York vicinity. The west coast of Florida is catching up. Fast.
“A few times a year I drive from my home in northern New Jersey to Boston—207 miles. It rarely takes me longer than 3:20. Funny, but I’ve always thought people moved to Florida for the weather and the change of pace from the Northeast. All this place is now is a warm Long Island.”
Work on the Ashley Drive Pavement Restoration Project began today and will continue for the 14 days.
The project extends from I-275 to Channelside Drive. This is an interim step to preserve the existing roadway surface while a transportation planning study is being compiled over the next 18 months. The goal of the study is to determine how to best create a more pedestrian-friendly environment and still meet the traffic demands.
The project will preserve the structural integrity of the roadway, while providing a new pavement surface for motorists to travel upon. Motorists should anticipate some delays between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. while construction takes place.
The project is being performed and managed by the City of Tampa Transportation Division, at a cost of $250,000. It includes pavement milling, surface overlay and a final top coat Once completed, new pavement markings will be applied.
—City of Tampa Transportation Dept.
First, the good news:
Traffic has been switched (at 3 a.m. this morning) to new lanes on eastbound I-4 from 40th Street to east of 50th Street.
Motorists should be alert to these changed conditions, including a new left-exit ramp to Columbus Drive/50th Street (Exit 3).
John McShaffrey,
Interstate Construction Office,
Florida Dept. of Transportation
http://www.my.com
TBI is Tampa Bay Interstates
And the bad ...
Nighttime Road Closures on the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway:
Motorists can expect nighttime road closures on the Selmon Crosstown Expressway westbound from 39th Street, exit 10 to Morgan Street, exit 6 tonight through Saturday. Nightly closures will begin at 8 p.m. and reopen the following morning at 5 a.m. with the exception of Saturday (March 11) when the closures will be lifted at 3 p.m. Currently no work is planned for Saturday Night.
The closures are necessary for overhead bridge work on the new reversible bridge in the downtown area.
Detour: Westbound motorists will be detoured off at 39th Street, exit 10, and travel north to Highway 60, west to Channelside Drive, west on Brorein Street, and re-enter the westbound Expressway at Morgan Street, entrance 6.
See the expressway authority Web site for traffic advisories at http://www.tampa-xway.com. Please be advised that unforeseen circumstances such as weather may affect the construction schedule.
—Lori Buck/Maricelle Venegas
Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority
Re: The Second Annual Pro Bike/Pro Walk Florida Conference,
St. Augustine, April 19 - 21, 2006
Cyclists, walkers, runners - consider this road trip recommended by:
Christopher A. Hagelin,
Research Associate and avid cyclist,
Center for Urban Transportation Research, USF
813-974-2977 (office/voice mail)
This conference is a collaborative effort of many agencies involved with bicycle and pedestrian issues. We are hoping that each person attending will leave with new tools and vision to improve the environment for bicyclists and pedestrians in our beautiful state.
This is the first statewide conference dealing with both pedestrian and bicycle issues.
The issues are broad, complex and intertwined: For Florida to become truly pedestrian- and bicyclist-friendly, those of us at this conference, as well as those unable to attend, must seek improvements in traffic safety education and law enforcement, transportation facility design and operation, development regulations, and attitudes toward these environmentally friendly and health-building modes of transportation.
The many sessions at the conference will help us all progress toward this worthy goal of improving our state for walkers, runners and bicyclists. While at the conference, we hope you will learn new approaches to issues you deal with, learn about other issues you should get involved in, and ways to network and make new friends who can support you in your efforts.
See also: http://www.probikeprowalkflorida.com/.
... Do it.
Downtown Tampa is the place to be tomorrow, but not the place to park..
It’s worth a reminder that 20,000 people are expected at the “Get Motivated” event at the St. Pete Times Forum Wednesday starting at 8 a.m. Additionally, the Marriott Waterside is hosting a lunch for 1,000 people.
The City of Tampa, Transportation Division recommends:
* There will be serious traffic congestion in Downtown Tampa between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. and between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Streets to avoid are Bayshore, Platt/Channelside, Ashley and Tampa.
* If you work downtown and do not have reserved/monthly parking, you will want to flex your hours and arrive by 7 a.m. to secure your normal parking spot. You can also consider parking on the northern end of downtown and utilize either of the InTown Trolleys or any bus going south on the Marion St. Transit Way (free).
* Carpool or take mass transit.
* Great day to take vacation!
* You may want to avoid scheduling meetings on this day with clients from outside downtown, as there will be no hourly parking available in downtown south of Kennedy after 7 a.m.
Traffic congestion throughout downtown is expected to be heaviest between 6:30 am and 8:30 a.m. While parking will be available in downtown lots, attendees are encouraged to use shuttles in and out of downtown to reduce of traffic.
Shuttles will run from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday (March 8). Shuttles are available to and from the following remote lots:
Ybor City: Parking will be available in all Ybor City parking garages. Shuttles will have several separate pick up locations along Seventh Avenue. Signs will be posted and “Get Motivated” staffers will be on hand to direct patrons to these pickup locations
Raymond James Stadium: Parking will be available at the stadium in lots 5 and 6. Shuttles will run periodically from the stadium to the St. Pete Times Forum and back to Raymond James Stadium throughout the day.
Signs will be provided by the City of Tampa Transportation Department directing guests to available parking and or shuttles.
For more transportation information, log on to http://www.hartline.org.
—Karen Kress, transportation manager, Tampa Downtown Partnership
Re: The death in a crash of state Road Ranger Donald Bradshaw Sunday, March 5.
Reading in The Tampa Tribune about the tragic circumstances of Mr. Bradshaw’s untimely and senseless death last week, I would like to comment.
First of all, I did not know Mr. Bradshaw and I believe that is my loss. But about five weeks ago, our paths crossed on I-275. I was stranded with a blown tire early in the morning on my way to work. I was not there more than eight or ten minutes when the Department of Transportation vehicle driven by Mr. Bradshaw arrived. Within fifteen minutes, he had the tire changed and I was ready to continue on.
We exchanged a few pleasantries and comments about the traffic and how people drive mostly asleep at the wheel. I asked him if there was a fee for this service and he replied, “No, Sir”—with emphasis stating that this was a service provided by DOT. I started to reach into my pocket anyway, but he waved me off.
We parted ways with my hearty “Thank you.”
I now wish that we would have had a few more minutes to chat, but our duties called—mine, to an office, his to help some other unfortunate soul.
To his family, my deepest sympathies and prayers: “May God comfort you and give you strength.”
Dennis Walker.
Tampa
From the Tampa Downtown Partnership… Downtown parkers take note:
A new surface parking lot is now available. Located on the southeast corner of Marion and Washington streets, behind SunTrust Financial Centre, this lot is renting spaces at $3 per day or $65 per month.
For details, call (813) 228-7722, extension 241. Remember, the Partnership maintains a complete list of parking options available downtown including sites that are convenient to the In-Town Trolley shuttles.
Call (813) 221-3686 for details.
Also, from the Partnership:
Did you know that downtown employees are eligible for a comprehensive commuter benefits program including subsidized vehicles, free emergency taxi rides home, reduced fare on trolleys, and more?
This is all possible now that Tampa’s downtown was designated as a Best Workplace for Commuters (http://www.bwc.gov/) District by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Call the Partnership at (813) 221-3686 to schedule a briefing on how a company can become eligible for a corporate version of the same EPA designation—with similar benefits to employees.
There are a lot of sites on the Internet that claim to be able to tell you which gas stations in your zip code have the cheapest gas. Some take the word of station owners or rely on volunteers to call in each day, or every time there is a change in price.
Station owners might not call with every price increase; volunteers can get sick, be out of town, get lazy or forgetful.
But there are several sites, among them MSN Autos, http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx?zip=&src=Netx , that instead get their information from OPIS, the authoritative Oil Price Information Service.
OPIS gets its information from credit card data—how much real people are paying per gallon at more than 120,000 gas stations nationally—each day.
Scott Ehlers, manager of the MS Autos site, says that because his site is part of a popular Web portal, more people access his site’s gas price data in a day than visit any other gas price site “in a month.” He won’t share the actual number of site visits.
OK, the Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft site is a biggie, but ....
At any rate, the site is very easy to navigate; the maps provided with each fraction-of-a-second search are clear, with nice, large type, and the list below the map spells out exactly where each station is and what it charges for gas.
If they’re timely and accurate—and I’d like to hear your evaluation of MSN and other gas price sites—I guess they could save us a fair chunk of money.
And if some stations are consistently lower than those around them, that would be good information to share, too.
Answering your questions is a big part of this job. This week, I’ve gotten letters about several things readers may find interesting: a possible danger to bicycle riders on U.S. 301 south of Sun City Center; the need for a traffic light at the intersection of Big Bend Road and Summerfield Boulevard; and potholes and bumpy sections of pavement on Big Bend Road between U.S. 41 and U.S. 301.
Well folks, thanks to the Florida Department of Transportation and Hillsborough County Roads and Streets, I’ve got your answers.
Richard Dombrow of Sun City Center writes that earlier this year, 6- to 8-inch grooves were ground into the shoulder of U.S. 301 which has made it hard for his group of bicyclists to ride its regular route into Manatee County.
“We’re now forced to ride to the inside of the white line in the flow of traffic,†Richard said. “Every Thursday morning our group of 15 to 20 cyclists ride on this southern portion of (U.S.) 301. Many other cyclists from the area also ride on this portion of the highway. But we can no longer ride on the shoulder because of the grooves. In some areas the shoulder is not wide enough and riding across the grooves shakes your hands from the handlebars.â€
Richard said he wrote to the county commission but received no answer.
The problem with that is Hillsborough County is not responsible for U.S. 301 – or U.S. 41 and State Road 674. They’re handled by the Florida Department of Transportation.
Kris Carson, spokeswoman for FDOT, checked out the installation of the grooves. As it turns out, they’re called “rumble strips.â€
“We installed rumble strips as an audio warning device for drivers who may run off the road,†she said. “It’s for the safety of the drivers.â€
But something can – and will be – done to help the cyclists, too. “Overgrowth has grown up and covered some of the shoulder, but we’ll get that cleared soon which will widen the area for the bicycles,†she said. “It won’t be a bicycle ‘lane’ but there will be more room.â€
Summerfield traffic light
I have good news for Deb Kosmela who writes about the accidents she has seen recently, including two school bus accidents, at the intersection of Big Bend Road and Summerfield Boulevard.
“Traffic is rarely doing the 25 mph that is posted when coming eastbound on Big Bend Road. This makes even a right-hand turn out of the development next to impossible. Forget about turning left, you have to wait an extended period, even in the evening, to do that,†Deb said.
The good news is that Hillsborough County spokesman Steve Valdez said a solution to this problem is already on the drawing board.
A temporary traffic light is in the design phase. Temporary lights can be put up quickly, usually in a couple of months, and used until a permanent light can be designed, made and installed – which usually takes around a year, Valdez said.
“Temporary lights aren’t meant to be pretty, they’re meant to alleviate an immediate problem,†Valdez said. “They’re mounted on a wooden pole, with the electrical box on another wooden pole, and there are normally no pedestrian features.â€
The permanent light will go into the design phase and be fabricated while the temporary light is up, he said.
Potholes on Big Bend
Eleanor Thallman’s question about who’s responsible for fixing the potholes on Big Bend Road between U.S. 41 and U.S. 301 is harder to answer. Hillsborough County and FDOT are both responsible for that stretch of road. Although it normally falls within the county’s duties, FDOT has responsibility there too because of the interstate ramps.
“Much of the conditions now found on the road were caused by the recent changes at the on and off ramp areas for I-75,†Valdez said.
Other areas of the road are the responsibility of the county.
No resurfacing of that stretch of road is planned by either Hillsborough County or FDOT at this time.
Penny Fletcher is the editor of The Sun and the South Shore News.
As Tampa’s downtown work force grows, and with more residents moving into the core, there is a growing need to explore various commuting/transportation options. One of today’s newest and growing trends in densely populated U.S. communities is a concept called:
Carsharing.
Carsharing is neither carpooling nor car rental. Carsharing provides an alternative to car ownership for people and businesses. Vehicles are parked in reserved parking spaces throughout downtown. Members of carsharing companies can reserve and use the vehicles by the hour, with gasoline and insurance included in the rates.
Studies have shown that carsharing can reduce car usage and parking needs and promote the use of public transit, walking and bicycling. Businesses, government agencies and universities have also begun exploring the use of carsharing as a commuter incentive to reduce the costs of owning and operating a fleet.
The Tampa Downtown Partnership will hold a session on carsharing - “Enjoy the Benefits of Using a Car without the Costs of Owning One” - that includes lunch to create interest among downtown companies, residents, developers, city staff, transportation planners, neighborhood groups and individuals.
The keynote speaker for this event will be David Brook, founder of the first commercial carsharing company in the United States, Flexcar (web http://www.flexcar.com ), now with more than 35,000 members in seven metropolitan areas. He will present an overview of how carsharing works, who uses it and some steps needed to make it happen in Tampa.
This session will be March 15 from noon to 1 p.m. at the USF Downtown Center at the Tampa Port Authority building, 1101 Channelside Drive, Room 114. There is free parking and participants are encouraged to travel the TECO Line Streetcar System to the Port Authority Station.
RSVP by March 13 to Karen Kress at the Tampa Downtown Partnership, (813) 221-3686 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
- From Paul Ayres, Tampa Downtown Partnership
More Car-sharing information, by Catherine S. Mitseas, for the Partnership:
A small but growing transportation metamorphosis is under way. The movement is turning auto owners into pedestrians and taking cars off the road. It is simple to understand, elegant in its strategy, and not federally funded. It is car-sharing; a business in which individuals rent locally-parked cars for short bursts of time. Begun in Europe, the idea migrated to the U.S. about five years ago. According to companies involved in car-sharing, many customers eventually shed their automobiles, preferring to let someone else handle the hassle of owning and maintaining a vehicle.
In car-sharing, a private company parks vehicles throughout a city for the use of registered members, who then select and reserve a car online or by phone. At the appointed hour, the individual walks to the car, unlocks the auto by pressing a keycard to the window, drives it away for the allotted time, and then returns it to its original spot. There is no paperwork, no annoying up-selling, and no complicated returns. Just ramble up to the designated car and drive away.
The company owns, maintains, and insures the car. The driver pays only an hourly fee or a daily rate, and may choose from such zippy, fun and functional transportation as the MINI Cooper, Honda Element, Volkswagen Jetta, BMW 325i and the Toyota Tacoma pickup truck, among others.
Karen Origlio, an MBA student at the University of Tampa, is a proponent and messenger for the service. After researching car-sharing for a graduate school project, she began exploring its potential in the Tampa market.
Could it work here? Maybe, maybe not, is the answer. Car-sharing works best in densely populated areas with a high percentage of single-person households, a large number people who either walk or use public transportation to reach work and, in some cases, strong government involvement.
Besides downtown residents, car-sharing attracts other users including fleet-owning businesses and government offices, and on-campus university students. In Tampa, cruise passengers could be a good market, Origlio believes.
Tampa’s ongoing residential growth indicates the city is on its way, Origlio says, but it still needs time to mature. But it’s not too early to teach local leaders about car-sharing and, perhaps, entice a company to consider our city.
The concept is growing rapidly around the United States. Zipcar (web http://www.zipcar.com ), of Cambridge, Mass., reports 50,000 members, and says it was the first car-sharing service in North America to attain profitability in all of its markets.
Established in 2000, Zipcar cars can be found in seven states and 21 cities, primarily along the east coast. The company recently launched west coast operations in three cities after securing $10 million in funding.
Seattle-based Flexcar (http://www.flexcar.com) covers 30 cities in seven major markets, and boasts a high-profile investment team. AOL founder Steve Case’s investment firm, Revolution, recently acquired a controlling interest in Flexcar. Lee Iacocca is both senior adviser and an investor/director of Flexcar.
Additionally, Flexcar, which began in 1999, provides a franchise-like network service called “I Go,” in which the company arranges the back-office operations for entrepreneurs interested in opening new locations. Flexcar spokesperson John Williams says the company looks for dense urban areas with three primary criteria: costly and/or scarce parking, good public transportation, and a city structure with a strong, pedestrian-oriented grid.
Both companies cite Miami as their first prospective Florida location. Car-sharing, proponents say, decreases congestion, reduces car usage, and promotes alternative transportation.
It’s green. It’s good. And maybe, someday, it will come to Tampa.
Red-light running is epidemic in the U.S., and the state Department of Transportation is leading a campaign _ with the Florida Highway Patrol _ to cut it way back. Enforcement works, but often only for the duration of the enforcement campaign, and as its memory lingers for those ticketed or witnesses to the ticketing.
Florida ranks seventh in the nation for traffic deaths caused by red light runners, and fatal vehicle crashes at traffic signals increased 19 percent last year, outpacing the rise of fatal crashes by all other causes _ according to stats from the state’s “Stop Red Light Running’’ campaign.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety also reports that disregarding red lilghts and other traffic control devices is the leading cause of urban crashes—causing 22 percent of them. The economic impact is estimated at $7 billion a year in medical costs, time off work, insurance rate increases and property damage.
Worse, nationwide more than 900 people die and 200,000 are injured in crashes involving red light-running. About half the deaths are pedestrians and occupants of other vehicles hit by red light-runners.
Many jurisdictions around the country are fighting back, often with red light cameras that lead to tickets based solely on the cameras’ photograph. Florida is not one of them, begging off that bandwagon on the grounds that tickets should go to the operator of the vehicle, not to the owner, and the cameras cannot make a positive I.D. Yet.
OK, we all know that we shouldn’t do it. In fact, the yellow light means stop, and only cars alread moving through the intersection should continue through. We have many excuses, many of them some version of “I was in a hurry, and ...’‘
A report from no less than the office of the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives—which seems to be part of a legislative effort to curb the proliferation of the red light cameras—made an interesting discovery, after first noting that some jurisdictions purposely shorten the times of the yellow lights to increase violations— and revenue.
The discovery? That LENGTHENING the duration of yellow lights reduces accidents at intersections, quite sharply.
Here’s a part of the executive summary. Below is the URL for the full, 29-page report:
The Red Light Running Crisis: Is it Intentional?
There’s a hidden tax being levied on motorists today. In theory, this tax is only levied on
those who violate the law and put others in danger. But the reality is that the game has been
rigged. And we’re all at risk.
We are told to accept the idea that our laws should be administered by machines—not
human beings—because it is a matter of safety. We must accept this expansion of government
and this Orwellian threat to our privacy because cameras are the solution to the so-called red
light running crisis.
This is a federal issue, not just a local one. The federal government is promoting and
offering funding for this “solutionâ€, because the safety benefits are supposed to be indisputable.
After all, who’s going to object? Nobody likes a red light runner. They endanger
themselves and others. They must be penalized.
But why have so many people become wanton red light runners all of a sudden? The
answer seems to be that changes made to accommodate camera enforcement have produced
yellow light times that, in many cases, are shortened to the point that they are inadequate. And
when people come upon an intersection with inadequate yellow time, they are faced with the
choice either of stopping abruptly on yellow (risking a rear end accident) or accelerating. The
options for those confronting such circumstances are limited and unsafe. But each time a driver
faces this dilemma, government increases its odds for hitting the jackpot.
This report suggests there is something that can be done to address this hazard. It cites
examples of problem intersections where yellow times have been raised by about 30 percent and
the number of people entering on red fell dramatically. It cites, in addition, controlled scientific
studies that confirm the hypothesis that longer yellows are better. The following reductions in
red light entries are documented:
Mesa, Arizona 73%
Georgia 75%
Virginia site 1 79%
Virginia site 2 77%
Virginia site 3 Problem “virtually eliminatedâ€
Maryland Problem “virtually eliminatedâ€
It is no coincidence that each of the “problem†intersections mentioned above happened
to have yellow times that fell short by about 30 percent….
see: rhttp://www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/docs/finalreport.pdf.
More food for thought, and from Washington.
Folks have expressed concern over the height of the barriers on the elevated, reversible lanes of the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway as they see its construction progress.
Mainly, the concern is that if a high-profile SUV gets thrown up against the 32-inch barriers, what’s to keep it from plummeting over and landing on traffic passing below, causing injuries, likely deaths and certain traffic chaos.
The short answer is that under most circumstances, the standard barriers—named “Jersey barriers” because in profile they resemble the shape of the state—should be sufficient. To guarantee no vehicle could ever go over this structure might require barriers as high as six feet or taller, which would put way too much weight on the roadway—especially this structure with its single support columns which give it a somewhat delicate, even graceful appearance from below.
And, as the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority’s acting executive director, Ralph Mervine, points out, significantly taller barriers would ruin the view, which along much of the six-mile elevated roadway’s run is interesting, expansive and sometimes even scenic.
It would also seem as though people driving the speed limit and paying attention might be able to avoid leaping the barriers—at least for the six-mile elevated stretch.
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Oh, this brings me to the question on everyone’s mind hereabouts:
Have you any reservations at all about driving on—or under—the thing? Will you drive it anyway? In other words: How important is shaving upwards of 20 minutes from your commute from Brandon to downtown?
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