An accident near the intersection of Blind Pass Road and 77th Ave in St. Pete is causing delays.

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An accident on the corner of Little Rd and King Healy Blvd has left one person dead.

Stay tuned to TBO.com for more updates.

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What? No Bus Service For 200 Miles?
There isn’t any.
There’s no “regular” bus service in the area west of U.S. 41, not even along U.S. 301, in the north-south area bordered by State Road 674 and Gibsonton Drive.
That’s one big void. Just the area between U.S. 41 and U.S. 301 (with those same north-south borders) is more than 200-square miles.
I said “regular” bus service earlier because there is a bus that will go door-to-door with 24-hours advance notice for people who are pre-registered as disabled, but that service isn’t a product of HARTline. It’s Sunshine Line.
HARTline has several types of “special” bus transportation too, but you have to live within 3/4 of a mile of a “regular” bus route to use any of them.
As verified by HARTline spokeswoman Kathy Karalakis, none of the HARTline programs, including HARTplus; HARTaccess; HARTlink; HARTflex or any of the new circulator busses are available east of U.S. 41 except within the confines of Sun City Center.
So here we are, wondering why people get so bogged down at the accident-ridden intersections of Big Bend Road and U.S. 301 and Gibsonton Drive and U.S. 301 and find there isn’t any alternative to driving in that area.
“Park & Ride” is just a slogan. The people in the thousands of new homes being built along the U.S. 301 and Big Bend corridors have no bus transportation at all.
HARTline says until South Shore (especially the U.S. 301 corridor) has sidewalks and safe places to stop, the bus company won’t be able to provide service in the area.
Because the Sun City Center community has sidewalks and safe places to stop, there are services available within the limits of that community. These include busses that shuttle between Community Hall and the new Wal-Mart Supercenter; the Kings Point clubhouse and several community destinations; and Route 87 that transports to the South Shore Regional Library, South Bay Hospital and several other Sun City Center stops.
The new 35LX – express route– developed with the sole purpose of driving Sun City Center residents directly to Westfield Brandon mall, makes no stops in between; leaving residents of the South Shore communities to the north waiting for a bus that isn’t scheduled to come.

Penny Fletcher is the editor of The Sun, a Tampa Tribune affiliate

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Florida legislators granted residents of Sun City Center the right to drive golf carts on streets within the community in 1989.

The special privilege came about because the late Democratic State Rep. S. L. “Spud” Clements Jr. added it to an already-existing popular bill as it moved through the State House in Tallahassee. At that time, Clements was quoted in The Sun as saying, “It was my ‘Tape-on’ bill.”

What Clements’ bill did was establish the right of golf cart drivers to operate on private streets within the Sun City Center community during daylight hours.

The Department of Transportation became involved later when issues came up about golf carts crossing State Road 674, and other streets belonging to the state and county.

Around 1992, the Sun City Center Golf Cart Safety Committee was formed and spearheaded many efforts that have no-doubt saved lives; including “cart warning” signage, safe crossing areas and special golf cart paths in high traffic areas.

Since that time, while most residents who use their golf carts abide by laws that were created to protect them, others continually break them.

Sheriff’s deputies report golf carts driving down State Road 674 – which despite the name “Sun City Center Boulevard” on a few street signs – is not a “boulevard” at all but a state highway and designated commercial truck route.

Deputies also report people going beyond the boundaries of Sun City Center regularly, and driving after dark. A few have even been pulled over traveling on Interstate 75.

Just because you don’t need a driver’s license to legally drive a golf cart doesn’t mean it’s OK to drive one when your driving faculties are impaired. I mean- when someone takes your set of car keys, is your first reaction to drive a golf cart instead?

Independence is a great thing. Sure, it’s nice to be able to come and go where and when we want without having to call a cab, wait for a bus, or ask someone else for a ride. But people who break the law in their golf carts need to think twice about whether they’re still capable of driving. If they are, they should expect to abide by the law, just as if they were behind the wheel of a car.

With the new stores – Home Depot to the west and Wal-Mart Supercenter to the east to mention only two – it is definitely a temptation to take the carts farther than they are legally allowed to go.

Sheriff’s deputies vowed to cover all entranceways to the new Wal-mart Supercenter for awhile, but shouldn’t law enforcement be free to go after the bad guys that invade homes, rob banks, kidnap children and rape elderly women?

It’s totally unfair to expect deputies to sit at intersections all day (and half the night) because some people refuse to abide by the golf cart laws. Personally, I’d rather see law enforcement freed up to do what we pay them for.

People who abide by the law shouldn’t be offended by this. Remember, a few bad apples can spoil the barrel. And in this case, that would mean everybody’s golf carts would have to stay on the greens.

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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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I’ve decided my 1995 Saturn and I belong together. Sixty wasn’t a milestone for me. A hundred sixty wasn’t a milestone for her.
More than a year has gone by since we hit those numbers and we’ve decided to stay together. It takes a little more maintenance for both of us, but then, she’s now up to 180,000 miles.
I, of course, no longer add numbers to my age. I only keep track of the numbers that count – like those on the scale and cholesterol, sugar and blood pressure levels. As long as they’re OK, I couldn’t care less about the numbers on my driver’s license.
She’s had some problems though, and for awhile I wasn’t sure she was going to make it.
In 2004, the year after we became family, courtesy of the Tampa Machinery Auction, she had some undercarriage problems. I understood that completely, having had some undercarriage problems of my own a few years before.
Hers cost $750, which was $30,000 less than my bill had been. Not bad, I thought. Some people I know pay more than that to the bank each month just for the privilege of driving their cars for another 30 days, while the title to “Babe” (which I so uninterestingly named her) arrived two weeks after she did and rests – free and clear – in my home office filing cabinet.
I’ve decided that Babe, like everything else, is a gamble. And while I may not be a gambler at heart, I’m certainly willing to take a chance she’ll run another year if I spend $400 or $500 once or twice a year.
I’m careful to change her oil every 3,500 miles whether she needs it or not; keep 32 pounds of pressure in each tire and have the basics checked and changed as needed. She’s much easier to keep on the road than some of the vehicles I drove while raising my older children in the ‘70s. Back then, I learned to put the “stick” back into the right “hole” underneath a Chevy truck to make the clutch work again; how to remove and wipe-out spark plugs and replace the coil wire that attached to the distributor (which taken together, was my version of a “tune-up” and that nothing cleaned crud off a battery better than club soda.
Still, even having experienced these things, there were times in 2005 and 2006 that I wavered in my decision to keep Babe around.
Now you’ve got to realize there are days when 100 miles is nothing for me to drive; running my 9-year-old to and from after-school programs; interviewing and taking photographs for the newspaper; and oh yeah – life.
First there was the new water pump. Then, when the battery light went on, we bought a new alternator. A tire blew. A belt snapped. The A/C blew warm air.
My son found out I was driving carloads of kids around in 100-degree heat and had a new A/C compressor installed. It made another shiny spot next to all the old black parts under the hood.
A few months later, Babe started “balking.” You know what I mean – not spitting or stalling, but not being able to successfully pass a line of semi trucks on the interstate at a comfortable 78 either.
When I took her to the doctor that time I thought she might be headed for the “U-pull-em-parts” lot.
I was right to worry. The diagnosis was indeed critical.
Her catalytic converter was in very bad shape. In fact, she had to have a transplant. If the damaged converter wasn’t removed soon, she would only go slower, and slower – until in time, she would stop.
The dealer said fixing her would be almost $1,500.
I’ll bet you already know what my answer was. I took her home and prepared for our eventual separation. Now, I may be somewhat sentimental, but I knew down deep inside that the worst part of that separation would be the parting of my money from my bank account. If I junked Babe, I would have to make car payments again.
So, I divided $1,500 by 12 – the number of payments I would have to make in a year – and came up with $125.
Why, I couldn’t get a decent car for $125 a month! We’d just have to make it through this thing together.
My next move was to the internet like it always is whenever the doctor tells me of some new suspected disease.
Comparing the dealer’s sheet of what needed to be done with the information I found on “catalytic converters and their function” I realized I didn’t really need a whole new exhaust system; I just needed the converter itself.
And doggone it, guess what? Catalytic converters can be bought at most auto parts stores for between $75 and $100, depending on your car’s make and model. Babe’s pipes weren’t damaged, her converter was just tired and full of junk. I imagined it was a little bit like I feel at the end of the day if I eat too much fast food.
So I did what I always do when a new disease pops up: I consulted a specialist. Only this time it was a welder instead of a mechanic and he had the new converter in place in 15 minutes.
“Now clean her out,” he said as I was leaving.
I knew what that meant. It was the old “Castor Oil and Blackstrap Molasses” principle.
It’s surprising how much black soot you can blow out of a tailpipe between the Apollo Beach and Gibsonton exits of I-75. Babe ran like a scalded dog and I was thrilled I hadn’t had to have separation surgery – you know, the one where they cut into, and physically remove, the money from your wallet.
It’s been seven months since that day and except when she demanded two new $8 spark plugs, Babe has been happy as a clam. She behaves well in South Shore’s rush-hour traffic; passes lines of trucks on I-75 and winds through the “secret shortcuts” through the secret shortcuts I often tell you about.
So for now, we’re still on the road together, Babe and I – still racking up those miles. Like everything around us, we’re constantly changing and neither of us ever know when we’ll need another repair. After all, when you hit certain “milestones” you’re expected to have a little shake, rattle and roll.
But then again, being an older Babe can also be a whole lot of fun. I’m wondering what she’ll want when she hits the 200,000 mile mark?
I told her not to worry. If she doesn’t give up on me, I won’t give up on her.

Penny Fletcher is the editor of The Sun.

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When I heard that 15-year-old Camden White was hit and killed in front of Brandon High School Dec. 4, I wanted to know the road rules that apply to school zones.
Sheriff’s reports state that westbound traffic had stopped to allow White to use a marked crosswalk to cross Victoria Street where it intersects with Meade Road. But Kami Bell, 22, of Valrico, struck him while he was crossing the eastbound lane. The report says she hit him hard enough to knock him onto the windshield of another vehicle, driven by Carmen Fraytes, 50, of Brandon.
Two questions immediately formed in my mind: what are the marked speed limits in school zones and why was there no crossing guard on duty at the designated crosswalk?
I set about making a series of calls and found out some interesting things some of you might want to know.
School board officials directed me to the sheriff’s office. I then realized I should have started there, because many school crossing guards wear orange “Sheriff’s Office” vests.
Between Cpl. Mark Clark, traffic specialist at Hillsborough County’s District 4 station in Ruskin, and Deputy Robin Saulnier, the sheriff’s office crossing guard coordinator, I was able to get all the answers to my questions, and more.
The county has a total of 245 guard positions, 15 of which are currently open. Only two of those are in South Shore.
That surprised me because there’s a 200-plus bus driver shortage, and 29 of those were in South Shore, when school began in August. Additionally, the problems with keeping bus drivers and crossing guards would seem to be similar: less than $10 an hour pay and only a few hours a day of work. Obviously, however, they’re not, because there are so few unfilled crossing guard positions. Unlike bus drivers, the crossing guards are on the sheriff’s office payroll.
Since middle and high schools in Hillsborough County do not have crossing guards, only South Shore’s 14 elementary schools are assigned them; with working hours between 7:10 and 8:25 a.m. and 2 and 2:45 p.m.
The upside of the job is that people with other jobs, either full-time (hours permitting) or part time, can pick up a little extra cash filling these positions. The criteria states only that the guards be age 18 or older, speak English (since most of the county’s students speak English) and have no felony convictions.
The downside is that it is not easy to keep people for so few hours at so little pay, and Saulnier says she expects to lose some right after the holidays.
Right now, guards are needed in South Shore at Thomas P. Corr Elementary School, 13020 Kings Lake Drive (off Big Bend Road) in Gibsonton, and at Riverview Elementary School, 10809 Hannaway Drive, one block east of U.S. 301.
Anyone who fits the bill and wants to apply may call Saulnier at the sheriff’s Crime Prevention Unit, 247-0927.
Since there are no crossing guards at middle or high school levels, that brings us to school zone speeds.
The Florida Driver’s Handbook says the approaches to school zones are marked by a five-sided yellow sign with pictures of a child and an adult. If the sign just has the two figures, it means it is a school zone warning. If it has the two figures between two lines, it means it is a school crossing.
Then there are the “Children Crossing” signs, which post a 20 mph speed limit, and sometimes even less, near the schools.
Saulnier says the county is trying to put flashing signs at the beginning of all elementary school zones but there is a long list; many still do not have them. These flashers are not required by the state but are being used by Hillsborough County as an added precaution, she said.
So if you see any of these signs, or you know you are approaching a school, just slow down. Put down your cell phone, coffee or whatever else you’ve got in your hands. Slow down and look in all directions. Lowering the radio and listening helps too.
Schools have enough problems keeping kids safe these days without speeders zipping through the slow-down zones while students are going to and from school.
Let’s not have another incident like the one that killed Camden White.
u People with questions and concerns about roads and traffic in South Shore may write me at 3032 College Ave., Ruskin, FL 33570 or e-mail .

Penny Fletcher is the editor of The Sun, a a TBO.com and Tampa Tribune affiliate. 

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Ed Ward of St. Andrews Estates in Sun City Center recently wrote me about the difficulty he has entering the intersection of State Road 674 and Stoneham/El Rancho drives. (It’s called Stoneham on the south side of State Road 674 and El Rancho on the north.) Recently retired from his position as postal clerk at the Ruskin post office, Ed is no stranger to traffic.
Lately though, exiting his neighborhood has been frightening.
“Difficult is the only word to try and explain trying to enter or cross State Road 674 from here,” Ed writes. “And when the new Wal-Mart opens (at the intersection of State Road 674 and U.S. 301, about a block from Stoneham/El Rancho) it will be impossible. We have had several accidents there lately, including some involving golf carts. I’m suggesting we get a traffic light as this would be the only cross street between I-75 and U.S. 301 without a single light to control the traffic. It’s an Indy-500 speedway.”
I set out to discover if there was any answer to Ed’s plight, beginning with a call to Robert Kouveras, a senior engineer with Hillsborough County Traffic Operations.
Because State Road 674 is a state road, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Florida Department of Transportation to decide if a signal is needed, Robert said. Once erected, however, the county maintains the signals on state roads.
“We both (the state and county) follow the same guidelines, though we call them warrants” he said. “They’re part of the federal highway standards that you must meet, like how many accidents there are at a certain spot.”
Unless warranted because of accidents or other predetermined criteria, signals cannot be closer than one-half mile from each other, he said.
What residents must do is get together and gather information about the intersection, then present a “case” to the FDOT to get a signal in a spot such as the one that concerns Ed.
“Warrants are not easy to meet,” Robert said.
But the news he gave me was not all bad. He said Wal-Mart is paying for and erecting a signal light at its main entrance, which will be about a third of a mile north of the U.S. 301 and State Road 674 intersection. Wal-Mart has already completed the site plans for this signal. Construction is expected to be completed before the store’s opening in April.
u Write to me with your concerns and questions about South Shore’s roads and traffic at 3032 College Ave., Ruskin, FL 33570 or e-mail me at with “Road Raves” in the subject line.
Penny Fletcher is the editor of The Sun.

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The Florida Highway Patrol has made it possible for people to provide contact information to be used by any law enforcement officer in case of emergency.
The new program started in October and works like an advance directive for medical care. You prepare it before it’s needed, and then if it is, there’s no delay.
The information you provide in advance gives the law enforcement officer immediate access to the names, addresses and telephone numbers of your first two emergency contacts simply by typing your driver’s license number into the law enforcement computer network.
Here’s how it works. You put your information on https://www6.hsmv.state.fl.us/dlcheck/findcustomer where you’ll find a screen titled Emergency Contact Information. It’s easy – it leads you right through.
According to Larry Coggins, spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol, there is no way to do this except online because the system is specifically designed to ensure the information is secure in the law enforcement network. Because it is a government site, people who do not have a home computer may readily access it at any public school or library or at their nearest community center.
I’m one of the people who does just about everything possible online, from shopping for that hard-to-find household item to banking and bill paying (I even bought my Key West-style living room blinds online and got the right size).
So for me, it’s a win-win situation. I feel more secure knowing the information is available to law enforcement officers in case it’s needed. I don’t choose to worry about online fraud, identity theft or any of the other reasons some people won’t put their personal information on line.
As the world becomes smaller and technology more a part of everyday life, I figure the risks are minimal when placed next to the benefits.
And I know if I’m incapacitated, I want my family to know.

Penny Fletcher is the editor of The Sun, a weekly Tribune/TBO.com affiliate

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In the 25 years I’ve been writing about the area now known as South Shore, I’ve done a lot of stories and columns about roadway medians.
Sometimes people write me wanting to know why some medians have flowers and shrubs while others have only grass. Other times, someone wants to find out how to start a beautification campaign.
Recently, I received a letter from Darla Sargeant of Ruskin, asking “Why is it the medians in Ruskin so rarely get mowed and weeded? It looks like they do it a lot more often in the Apollo Beach area. Is there a way this can be improved?”
So I made some calls and found out.
As it turns out, Hillsborough County mows and cleans up its roadways 3.8 times a year, according to Steve Valdez in the county’s information office.
Valdez explained they get this figure by dividing the number of county roads and streets by weeks in the year. But the main roads, remember, are not county roads – they’re state roads – and are governed by the Florida Department of Transportation.
FDOT’s policy is to mow and weed roads, like State Road 674 and the area’s U.S. highways, like U.S. 41 and 301, nine times a year, according to Kristen Carson of FDOT.
If people want their areas cleaned, weeded and mowed more often, they must get an entity (like a chamber of commerce or a beautification committee) to sign an agreement with the county or state stating specifically what they will do and when and how they will do it.
This can become a sticky situation, Valdez said, especially when trees and shrubs are planted and then not kept trimmed, becoming not only an eyesore, but a traffic danger as well.
Because of potential lawsuits involved, the agreements are worded by the county and state, and the rules can become too troublesome for the average person to follow.
“A lot of people start out to do an agreement, and give up,” he said, citing attempts made by the Carrollwood Area Business Association several years ago. “They wanted their areas done, but they knew they couldn’t keep their end of such an agreement, working out there in the heat with cars whizzing by them at 80 miles an hour.”
Some areas, like Sun City Center, do have signed agreements with the county and state so they can have “extras” in their main medians, like State Road 674, but they can become very expensive to maintain. My guess is that when the developer builds out and leaves Sun City Center, the homeowners’ associations left with the entire responsibility of S.R. 674 upkeep will end up going back to grass, with the occasional pruning of the palm trees already in place. And even that will be very expensive for residents when the responsibility is no longer shared with the community’s developer, WCI Communities Inc.
So far, no group in Ruskin has signed such an agreement with the county or state, although some areas of the roadway median have been “adopted” which means certain groups have agreed to clean up trash along the roadsides. But “adopting” roads has nothing to do with using equipment like mowers and trimmers.
People who wish to see the Ruskin medians weeded and mowed more often may start a group and approach John Newton, division director of transportation maintenance for the county, located on the 22nd Floor of County Center, 601 E. Kennedy Blvd.; call him at 272-5912, or visit the South Shore Service Unit next to East Bay High School (the fenced area between the school and Interstate 75).
It would be nice if there were quick, easy answers to simple questions like these, but unfortunately, everything seems to be weighted down with rules and regulations these days.
Even picking up trash.
u Send your questions and concerns about South Shore’s roads and traffic to 3032 College Ave., Ruskin, FL 33570 or e-mail them to with “Road Raves” in the subject line.

Or better yet, blog your comments here, in the comments section and let others know how you feel about this subject!

Penny Fletcher is editor of The Sun. 

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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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As traffic inches along on South Shore’s roads and streets causing accidents to happen and tempers to rise, there are a few bright spots on the horizon that will eventually alleviate some problems.
For one thing, Hillsborough County traffic services director Mike McCarthy has agreed to take residents’ complaints to county commissioners concerning the new median at the intersection where First Street S.W. and 14th Avenue S.W. converge before they enter U.S. 41.
McCarthy said he thinks the commission, which will consider the changes Oct. 4, will approve a recommendation made by his department to change traffic flow. A few months back, a stone median was erected in less than two days, without any warning to residents, and this arrangement has resulted in a series of resident complaints, a petition and a community meeting Sept. 20 where residents enumerated their complaints to McCarthy who offered four options for fixing the problem.
At the meeting, tempers flared as McCarthy gave the options for intersection changes. Although many residents wanted complete removal of the median, most agreed to a different option – suggested by McCarthy – to make a cut-through that will allow for more traffic flow. The county said some form of barrier will be necessary at that intersection as the area grows and so it will not remove the entire structure.
But as early as next week, residents could hear jackhammers cutting through the concrete median and see changes in the U.S. 41 traffic light so cars exiting either street could turn both directions at the intersection.
I certainly hope the commission approves this. Right now, you’re forced to go north whether you want to or not, which often means turning right to go left. Sometimes I wonder if county (and state) highway officials realize that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

McDonald’s improvements
Officials for the new McDonald’s restaurant at the corner of State Road 674 and U.S. 301 in Sun City Center are in the process of completing plans to relocate a water main so they can add a new turn-lane on Valley Forge Boulevard. This, and some repaving on Valley Forge Boulevard – also in Sun City Center – was part of a concurrency requirement of the county’s Planning and Growth Management Office when the McDonald’s permit was granted.
If everything moves along as planned, work could start as early as January. The contact person for this is Jim Kurtz, assistant construction manager for McDonald’s USA, LLC in Tampa at 630-9634.

Your letters
Several people have written in questions that I have not yet addressed, so if you don’t see your answers here, rest assured I will try and get to them soon.
Meanwhile, continue to mail your questions and concerns about South Shore’s roads and traffic to me at 3032 College Ave., Ruskin, Fla. 33570 or e-mail with “Road Raves” in the subject line.

Penny Fletcher is the editor of The Sun.

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I’ve been writing this column about roads and traffic for more than a year now, which has resulted in a lot of feedback. Some of the comments and letters I’ve received have been nearly beyond belief – until I check them out.
Commuters generally complain about it taking longer to get out of their developments than it takes to get from their South Shore entrance ramps on Interstate 75 to their exits in Tampa, Brandon and Bradenton.
I know it’s true. Not long ago I spent 45 minutes traveling down Boyette Road from Balm-Riverview Road to the I-75 on-ramp at Gibsonton Drive, a distance of less than six miles. At the time, I had thought taking Balm-Riverview from Big Bend Road would be faster than taking U.S. 301, and it was, until I realized I would then have to go west on Boyette through what is now the second-most congested (and accident-prone) intersection in Hillsborough County, according to the sheriff’s office.
And, depending upon the time of day I leave my house in Summerfield, it could take me longer to reach the southbound I-75 ramp, which is exactly 1.3 miles from my driveway, than to drive the 11 miles along the interstate to our Ruskin office at Sun Point.
Regular readers of this column know I advocate back roads whenever possible, and often offer tips I’ve learned since I moved here in the 1970s. But the back roads are fast disappearing. And there are times when you have no choice but to sit behind the wheel for long stretches of time.
Now, it’s one thing to have to fight traffic to my company’s Ruskin or Brandon office, or to get my 9-year-old to school or swimming or cheerleading or some other activity. Being late for these things – or having it take two hours to grocery shop instead of just the 30 minutes you spend in the stores – is one thing. Traveling through this maze in an emergency is quite another.
Recently, I realized two things very clearly: one, you can’t “get to here from there” easily during a real emergency, and two, this isn’t just relevant to South Shore’s rapid growth; it’s definitely county-wide. (In theory I already knew that, but because I time my trips out of South Shore so carefully, it doesn’t always seem that way.)
Recently, my daughter, not my 9-year-old, the grown daughter with four children, including a son in the 82nd Airborne Division’s Special Operations, had surgery in Tampa. Now, I’m not a fan of drive-by surgery anyway; especially when you get sent home two hours after waking up from general anesthesia, but that’s the way things are done today.
I knew I was in trouble the minute the valet brought our car to the door and she stepped from the wheelchair into the car. I figured the pain-killers in the anesthesia would last about an hour.
I looked at the clock. It was 5:30 p.m., and cars were lined up on Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard as far as I could see in every direction. By the time we got to the entrance ramp to I-275, the turn-line was so long I decided to avoid it and cut across 15th Street to 22nd, straight through the College Hill development heading for the 22nd Street Bridge.
Now I know the downtown area pretty well to have been able to do this, but still, it was almost an hour before we saw the “Gibsonton 11 miles” sign that greets us to South Shore on U.S. 41.
It was a quick 55 mph pace from there to Riverview Drive where I managed to pick up my 9-year-old at my son’s and head for the drugstore.
Avoiding the line of 12 to 15 cars at the drive-through, I left the 9-year-old in charge of my heavily-sedated grown daughter, who by now was at least talking with a little more sense than she had been an hour before, and went inside to stand behind the 20 or so people lined up at the drop-off counter.
I am not an impatient person. In fact, I pride myself on being able to roll with the punches and say stuff like “oh well, things happen” pretty much all the time.
I did not feel that way on this trip.
Even though I did not choose to wait for the medications, and instead had someone else pick them up, it was a full 2½-hour ride before I got my daughter to my couch.
It makes me wonder if the county will eventually sink from the weight of the cars or will enough really good, convenient public transportation ever be put on our highways to encourage people to use it?
I, for one, will examine the candidates’ positions on roads and transportation before November.
It’s an important issue that will have to be solved.

Send your questions and concerns about roads and traffic to 3032 College Ave., Ruskin, FL 33570 or e-mail them to with “Road Raves” in the subject line.

Penny Fletcher is editor of The Sun.

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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’ve written about the inability to get around in – and out of – certain areas of South Shore many times. Whether it’s trying to find a way to beat the rush-hour traffic or the shortage of east-west and north-south routes available in case of an evacuation, whenever I talk about these issues in a column, I get a good response.
This shows that others are thinking about these matters, too, and that I’m far from the only one who can see the problems with our area’s crowded roads and streets.
Recently, The Tampa Tribune showed graphic simulations of what would happen to Tampa if a hurricane the size of Katrina hit anywhere in the Tampa Bay area.
Channel 8 news has also shown graphic images of larger portions of the Bay area, including St. Petersburg, South Tampa and South Shore, that would literally disappear underwater in such a scenario. One of the areas included in the most recent simulation of shoreline disappearance included all of Apollo Beach west of U.S. 41.
That report again drove my thinking back to which of South Shore’s roads and streets are available for quick evacuation.
With only three roads leading out of Apollo Beach, it’s easy to imagine traffic backing up clear west to the bay. Fortunately, the population of Apollo Beach is still under 10,000 – quite small when compared to other areas in South Shore.
I’m not writing this column with the intent of scaring anyone, especially about things that are out of our range of control. But some things are still within our sphere of control and using them could help us remain safe.
Making possible more entrance and exit points in every community is one way we can add to our safety in emergencies, and lessen day-to-day traffic problems, as well.
There are several places in Sun City Center that are intentionally “closed” to keep “outsiders” from roaming free. The argument is that more people cause litter, wear and tear on the streets and crime.
Two places in Sun City Center that come quickly to mind are St. Andrews Estates and the many new communities on the south end of Sun City Center built along Pebble Beach Boulevard.
St. Andrews Estates is built like a huge cul-de-sac, and I’m not sure there’s much anyone can do about adding back entrances, although if enough homeowners approached their association with suggestions there’s always a possibility something could be worked out.
Pebble Beach (in the Renaissance area of Sun City Center) is another matter. This situation can be easily remedied ... if residents choose to do so.
Pebble Beach Boulevard has been extended to U.S. 301 and is being used as a construction entrance for workers building the new areas southeast of the Renaissance community. Some county maps show it eventually being an open road onto U.S. 301, and that connection has been a matter of contention with some residents.
Sun City Center resident Jim Johnson recently wrote a letter to The Sun saying he thinks there may be a way to appease people on both sides of the Pebble Beach Boulevard controversy.
“I would like to see South Pebble Beach (Boulevard) opened to through-traffic from (U.S.) 301. I can also see a need for an evacuation route from this area. But we could use a gate at the 301 entrance that would be opened only by the sheriff’s office in case of an evacuation order. This could make both sides of the argument happy.”
Jim’s idea seems to make good sense. Other ideas are also welcome and views on all sides will be considered for publication.
u Please send your ideas and suggestions for columns regarding South Shore’s roads, streets and traffic to 3032 College Ave., Ruskin, FL 33570 or e-mail them to with “Road Raves” in the subject line.

Penny Fletcher is the editor of The Sun.

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