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.

There’s nothing strange about strange occurrences on our Florida roads, but this was a new one, as told to me. A state trooper car was speeding along the road with only his back top lights flashing yellow. The front top lights, the red and blue flashing lights, were not on at all. Never having witnessed this before, the reader wasn’t sure what the proper reaction should be. Pull over? Keep going? What was the trooper doing?

Coggins’ response: Perhaps the trooper accidentally left the back lights flashing after being at some scene where the lights were warning traffic about something. You are only required to yield the right of way to an emergency vehicle when it approaches from the rear or into the intersection with its emergency equipment activated in view of the vehicles it is trying to get by.

High beam or low beam
Road Raves reader Frank Dohrmann had a couple comments that deserve attention. He read somewhere that the Florida Uniform Traffic Code requires you to dim your lights when you cannot see 1,000 feet in front of you because of fog, rain or smoke, not just because it is raining. Also, Dohrmann said a columnist (not a Tribune columnist, I hasten to add) wrote that a motorist can only be cited for improper lane changes if the lane change affects traffic. He wondered if that was true.

Coggins (I can visualize him shaking his head resignedly) said the only thing Florida says about high beams is that they will be lowered to low beams when approaching oncoming traffic within 500 feet or less or when approaching the rear of a vehicle within 300 feet. Otherwise you can always use high beams, though it is recommended that you use a low beam in foggy conditions.

Picture this scenario:  In the wee hours of the morning while it is still dark, you are driving to work. You haven’t had your first cup of coffee, so are too dimwitted from caffeine depravation to dim your lights for an oncoming car. That same caffeine depravation is the reason you fail to notice the highway patrol car following you. The trooper, unfortunately, happens to be wide awake and alert and those flashing red and blue lights wake you up in a hurry.
What is your lawbreaking going to cost you? Three points against your license and a fine that ranges from $115.50 to $121.50, depending on the county, Coggins said.

That will take a chunk out of your Starbucks kitty.

As for using your turning signal, Coggins said a new Florida law requires you use your turn signal every time you pass another vehicle, change lanes, or turn, whether or not there is other traffic.
The fine for failure to push that little shift stick up or down ranges from $115.50 to $120.50 in the Bay area and tacks three points on your driver’s license.

And finally, here is today’s bumper sticker, which isn’t going to cost you anything whether or not you read it.

Today’s bumper sticker
Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. That way, you’ll be a mile away and have their shoes.