Well, your faithful blogger is leaving The Tribune, retiring actually. Today is my last day.

The commuting beat/Behind the Wheel column/blog will be staffed again, I am told, as soon as managers can hire/find someone.

It has proven to be viable beat: Most of us do it, some of us better than others. And we spend a whole lot of time in our cars, trying to get to work or home, some more time than others. But we don’t have much choice but to drive herabouts.

In a sprawling place where subdivisions are “planned’’ based on where the cheaper land is, we need more and more roads to enable all those folks to get to work somewhere more urban, so they can pay their mortgages.

I commute(d) from Sarasota, a town too far from Tampa. Earlier assignments permitted me to work there, and in St. Petersburg. But the downtown Tampa gig ... didn’t work for me.

Too much commuting.

I know, the irony is as thick as Los Angeles smog.

Adios. I’m going home.

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bod dl TAMPA Maybe, just maybe, we’ll be flying over I-4 and Malfunction Junction before too long, rather than fuming in the traffic jams below.

The so-called “fly-in community” became something of a fad in the 1970s and early ‘80s: a small hangar by every house and a shared landing strip in the middle of the subdivision.

A few dozen such residents commuted by air to Tampa to work - from Sarasota, Charlotte or Pasco counties - when weather permitted. It was said then to be the wave of the future.

But Mark Moberg, the fixed-base operator of Vandenberg Airport, near the Florida State Fairgrounds, said he knew of lots of people who flew into town in their own airplanes to do business, but only one doctor who truly “commutes” into town regularly.

Peter O. Knight’s operator, Dericcq Dymerski, said much the same thing, but knew of no true commuters.

“It just hasn’t happened,” he said. “We were all supposed to have one of those Jetsons cars, too.”

The two business owners cited aviation fuel costs, the necessity for ground transportation at both ends of the “commute,” and the fact those early air commuters - several of whom were commercial pilots - have likely kept their homes and planes, and retired.

But Dymerski believes the “air commute” could again be in our future, and maybe as soon as 2015 if the promise of a concerted public-private partnership led by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is realized.

It’s called SATS, for Small Aircraft Transportation System, and it relies on a host of new technologies - almost all of which exist or are in the final stages of development - and the existing network of 5,400 small local airports around the country.

The elements of the system are: almost “all-weather” light aircraft with easy-to-use (and learn) controls, with real-time weather and air traffic information onboard. The use of smaller airports will bypass the 30 largest, congested airports and all the ground delays and hassles they’ve come to represent.

Another key is a new generation of simplified onboard instrumentation.

“They call it the “glass cockpit,’ “ Dymerski said. “It’s a whole series of computer screens, with live, real-time weather and GPS maps.” Peter O. Knight already has one Cessna 172 Skyhawk in its 10-plane training and lease fleet equipped with the new equipment.

New air-traffic control technology will soon bring automated separation and sequencing of landing aircraft to small airports without towers or air traffic control, Dymerski said, enabling them to handle greatly increased traffic.

“This will really change the face of commuting,” he said, “and lower costs, putting it in the hands of [a lot more] people.”

Five years of federal funding for SATS ended this summer, but a strong group of private industry partners are working together to advance the technology and coordination among those with a stake in its development.
The SATS movement is also giving birth to a new generation of “air taxi” services, one of which - called POGO - has registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission to serve the Northeast with the new generation of very light jets, so-called “VLJs,” serving 700 airports within 500 miles of New York City.

Another, called SATSair, headquartered in Greenville, S.C., uses single-engine piston planes for short runs. It was recently acquired by aircraft manufacturer Cirrus Industries of Duluth, Minn., which will add another 100 of Cirrus” lightweight, all-weather planes to SATSair’s 30-plane fleet to serve much of the Southeast.

SATSair’s air-taxi rates have brought costs down to as low as $135 per passenger for a one-way flight of less than an hour, no reservation necessary.

And Dymerski says that good small planes may be purchased used for as little as $15,000, and can readily be retrofitted with state-of-the art electronics, although doing that can easily run as much as $10,000.

“One of our line employees here did just that,” Dymerski said, “and he really thinks it’s worth it. It’s like a new airplane.”

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BMW of North America will send 38 specially painted BMW 3-series cars criss-crossing the country to drive a total of a million miles this month and next, reaching from Alaska to Florida, with a goal of raising $1 million for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

For every test-drive mile driven by prospective customers on certain days, BMW will donate $1 to the foundation. No donation will be asked of those who come in for a test drive.

Each fleet car will have a special titanium paint job incorporating swirls of pink ribbons, the symbol of the breast cancer cause. The lead car in each of two 19-vehicle convoys will incorporate the signatures of every test driver, and the picture of a “local hero” - someone in the area who has made a significant contribution to the cause.

Cars in BMW’s “Ultimate Drive” will be at Fields BMW, 4285 Lakeland Park Drive, Lakeland, on April 25; Bert Smith BMW, 3800 34th St. N., St. Petersburg, April 27, and Ferman BMW, 31480 U.S. 19, Palm Harbor, on May 1. The “Ultimate Drive” vehicles will be available from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

This year’s “Ultimate Drive” will bring the program’s 10-year donation total to $10 million, BMW spokeswoman Any Quarmby said.

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This is a good deal:

Any commuters who share a ride, take a bus, bicycle or walk to work, are eligible for a free taxi ride home, courtesy of the state - just because on those days they’re not contributing to the area’s traffic crunch.

Ray and Lucy Gurka drive from their home north of Raymond James Stadium each morning, arriving at the downtown YMCA at 5:30 a.m. where they work out for an hour. Afterward, she drops her husband at the county center and drives on to Tampa General hospital, where the parking fee is nominal.

She’s an RN; he works in the county’s real estate department. “It works out really well,” Ray said, and has for six years. They alternate between his Ford Ranger and her Chevy Lumina. The shiny Mustang convertible stays in the garage, for the weekends.

“It’s good, too, because in the evening, we get a chance to vent about our days, and by the time we get home, it’s pretty well past.”

Because the Gurkas share the ride, that qualifies as car-pooling. Should either of them need to leave early because of illness, a personal or family emergency, or have to stay late because of unscheduled overtime, they are eligible for the free ride home, thanks to Bay Area Commuter Services” Emergency Ride Home program.

It’s completely free, but requires enrollment (web http://www.TampaBayRideShare.org or (800) 998-RIDE.) Just certify you share a ride (or bike, walk or take the bus) at least two days a week, and you’re in the program.

Sandi Moody, executive director of BACS, a creation of the state Department of Transportation, says the free ride program has nearly 2,000 members who used the service about 500 times last year, spending and average of $34 on each ride with participating cab companies (United and Yellow).

The member is required to have a supervisor sign off on the voucher that will be presented to the cab driver, but it’s worth up to $100 per cab ride, and may be used as many as eight times a year.

Ray estimates he uses it about once a year.

Terry and Michelle Egan are in the program, too. But they’ve never called a cab.

He drives them downtown every morning - “she’s not totally conscious at that time of the day,” Terry said - and parks at the University of Tampa where she works, and he walks to his job as a research librarian with the county planning department.

She drives home at night.

They bought a Toyota Prius hybrid in 2004, and fill it with gas - “about once a month.”

Terry used to take an express bus to work - which also made him eligible for a free cab ride home. One day a strange man boarded the bus and a few minutes later tossed back a big handful of pills, washed them down with most of a bottle of whiskey, and presently slid unconscious into the aisle.

“We looked around at each other,” Terry said, and someone finally called the police on a cell phone. Paramedics saved the man’s life.

“They stopped the bus and we had to wait until another one came along to pick us up.”

But it sure broke up the day. Ever since, Terry said, when he needs a ride home - about twice a month, he estimates - he takes the bus, not the free cab.

“Otherwise, I wouldn’t have any adventures in my life.”

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Starting Monday, traffic on Jefferson Street between Kennedy Boulevard and Cass Street will be open one-way northbound only during the installation of a new water main, a project expected to take nearly four months.

During the construction period metered parking will be limited, and delays northbound should be expected, although at least one northbound lane will be kept open at all times.

Alternate northbound routes include Florida and Nebraska avenues. Pierce Street is an alternate southbound route.

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Tampa Bay commuters almost got their very own ferry, to link the Channelside District, the convention center-St. Pete Times Forum-Marriott Waterside area; MacDill Air Force Base, Apollo Beach, Safety Harbor, The Pier in St. Petersburg, St. Pete Beach and maybe Clearwater.

But it’s not going to happen. At least, not yet.

Tampa Developer Roger Gatewood, who envisioned the ferry as an amenity for his condominium project, Seaboard Square, even commissioned a $75,000 feasibility study in 2005. The study, by the Glasure Group of St. Petersburg, produced a whole lot of data and a slick report saying that—in a nutshell—it sure is feasible.

Jack Glasure, who authored the study, believes a ferry service is inevitable. “It will happen one day,” he said. “It’s only a matter of time. It’s just a matter of how it’s structured.”

MacDill service members and base employees were especially enthusiastic, he said, and there was a lot of support from downtown Tampa businesses. And as the character of downtown changes as it becomes increasingly residential, the demand to get to St. Petersburg and the beaches - without driving - can only grow, he said.

But the Seaboard Square project, going up on 6 acres between 12th and Whiting streets and Meridian and Cumberland avenues, was bought out by Sembler Investments of St. Petersburg early this year.

Sembler has no plans to move forward with the ferry proposal, the company’s president, Darian Johnson said: “With all the work we’ve had to do, that’s not really something we’ve had time for.

“But we support the trolley, anything that can benefit downtown, and bring it a lively atmosphere,” he said.

When interviewed by the Glasure Group, a whole lot of area officials and other leaders gave it hearty endorsements, including these, from the report:

* We absolutely can make this project work at the Pier/Port of St. Petersburg—City of St. Petersburg: Anita Treiser, marketing director.

* Cruise lines could offer day packages for ferry trips before or after cruise vacations—Steve Polzin, director, USF Center for Urban Transportation Research.

* Ferry service is routine in other areas; it has the potential to become routine here.—U.S. Rep. Jim Davis’s office, John Kynes.

* Egmont Key could possibly become an eco-tourism destination. We are currently building a new visitor center, and could rebuild Coast Guard dock and build restrooms.—James Kraus, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service project manager.

* We would love to have the boat docked at the Aquarium.—Florida Aquarium: Thom Stork, president.

* Potential federal funding is available for a commuter-based service, and the MacDill segment would qualify.—FDOT, Jerry Comellas, special projects administrator.

* We are very interested in any options to relieve congestion at the gates to MacDill.—MacDill Air Force Base, Col. Irvin Lee, 6th Mission Support Group commander.

* There is definitely a demand for this type of service and the novelty is appealing.—Marriott Waterside, Alex Kapzan, director of sales.

* Our port is VERY interested in being a part of the project, including nighttime harborage.—Port of St. Petersburg: Walt Miller, marina/port Manager.

* People will use a service that is enjoyable and provides amenities such as TV, Internet access, coffee, etc.—Senator Sebesta: Jim Sebesta, Florida Legislature, Committee on Transportation, chairman.

* Every meeting planner looking at an event in Tampa asks, “How do we get to the beach?"-- Tampa Bay CVB: Steve Hayes, executive vice president.

But thus far, no governmental agency or business entity has stepped forward to put together a coalition to make the ferry a reality, one the Glasure study estimated would cost between $2.1 million and $3.6 million a year to operate, depending on the size of the vessel purchased.

How much of that is offset by fare income is dependent wholly on occupancy rates, and the study doesn’t list outcomes any lower than 50 percent, at which a modest profit can be realized, according to the study.

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Those signs along Interstate-75 proceeding south from Interstate-10 conform fully to Federal Highway Administration (FWHA) guidelines, say spokeswomen for the Florida Department of Transportation, and, bottom line: They will not be changed.

Although a dozen signs indicate that distances to St. Petersburg are shorter that those to Tampa, the presence on the left of the I-275 shield indicates the distance specified is not to the city but to the I-275 interchange just south of the Pasco County line, which does lead (ultimately) to St. Petersburg. After the turnoff, the DOT’s Kris Carson notes, the distances to each city are spelled out in their correct correlation.

For you detail-oriented folks, here from the DOT is more than most need to know about federal sign policies:

“When three lines of legend appear on a post-interchange destination-distance guide sign:

The first line of legend is ordinarily information about the next interchange.
The second line of legend displays a significant destination located between the first and third destinations displayed on the guide sign.
The third line of legend ordinarily displays the distance to the centroid of an FHWA defined control city.

EXAMPLE of I-75 Post Interchange Destination/Distance Guide Sign:

The second line of legend demonstrated in this example:

The ROUTE SHIELD for Interstate 275, which is the significant destination, text message “St. Petersburg,” the mileage to the junction of I-75 with I- 275 (and I-275 will take you TO Saint Petersburg—the TO is implied).

Below is a sign design depicting how the second line of legend on the sign above is to be understood (The style of sign shown above does not accommodate the additional language):

Carson says that the DOT’s district office here gets about one call a month from confused motorists, but that after some version of the above explanation, they are usually satisfied.

Simple, no?

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Ever drive south on Interstate-75, from I-10 say, and notice all those green Department of Transportation signs along the highway noting the distance remaining to Tampa _ and St. Petersburg?

If you paid attention, you noted that Tampa gets first billing, but the odd thing is, the distance to St. Petersburg is always less than the distance to Tampa: 153/124, 97/89, 61/45, 58/32, 33/18, 26/11, etc.

Each St. Petersburg distance figure follows an I-275 logo, suggesting the distances are actually to the I-275 turnoff which does take travelers to St. Petersburg _ after they’ve driven all the way through Tampa.

Confusing? Well, it is to Jim Boggs, who has run the Tampa Bay Visitors Information Center on Busch Boulevard opposite Busch Gardens for 14 years. He also runs a travel agency and a three-room bed and breakfast there, plus what he believes is the area’s largest souvenir shop, but we digress.

“That has to be really confusing to tourists _ and locals who don’t know any better,’’ Boggs said. “The signs are pretty new ... I just noticed them for the first time in February, coming back from Mardi Gras in New Orleans.’’

It can’t be good for hotel owners, he figures, because clueless visitors may just keep driving to St. Petersburg, the “closer’’ of the two cities.

As if this area isn’t confusing enough, he said: “We keep meeting people who drove all the way to St. Pete to attend a concert at the St. Pete Times Forum _ sometimes they’ve come all the way from West Palm Beach,’’ while of course the Forum is in downtown Tampa.

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Repaving projects are in high gear for the dry season. Everywhere I drive, it seems something is being ripped up, resurfaced and striped with paint.

But as quickly as repairs can be made, more are needed. I fear it’s doomed to be a never-ending dance.

At least we keep moving.

In a handwritten letter, one reader described the tricky process of avoiding the numerous manhole covers and potholes as “taking a defensive driving course on a daily basis.”

Ashley Drive’s obstacle route may now be smoothed over, but Kennedy Boulevard is still a mess. My most recent trip down that deplorable thoroughfare was a blur of swerving, bouncing and cursing.

I plan to map alternate routes for awhile, but not for too long.

Continuing my recent string of good news, last Friday I discovered the Florida Department of Transportation plans a Kennedy Boulevard resurfacing this fiscal year.

Oh, joyous day!

The project will smooth out Kennedy’s skin from North Brevard Avenue (that’s near Henderson Boulevard) to South Woodlynne Avenue (just a tad west of the Kennedy Drawbridge).

And hang on to your car seats – work could begin as soon as May.

Until then, I’ll be looking into reader concerns about Bayshore Boulevard’s pedestrian crossings and notorious bumpiness, as well as the continued impact of Manhattan Avenue’s widening.

Stay safe out there.

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I love to be the bearer of happy tidings.

Last month, I received a bounty. The first came as an update on the question of sidewalks.

Readers may recall my March 1 column, which delved into the issue of South Tampa’s narrow, uneven and sometimes nonexistent walkways.

It’s bad enough on foot, but for people in wheelchairs, these sidewalks are often impassible.

In late February, Paulette Vasey of New Suburb Beautiful wrote in to share the plight of her daughter Rebecca, 37, who has cerebral palsy and operates an electric wheelchair.

Vasey described their difficulty in traversing sidewalks en route to a SoHo restaurant, citing unstable areas around Mississippi and Howard avenues.

“The sidewalks are like ramps, and your wheelchair is really tipped and unstable,” Paulette said. “It gets very frustrating.”

Others anonymously wrote in and shared stories. One woman with a power wheelchair described getting stuck at blocked sidewalks, or being forced into street traffic by the lack of safe walkways.

Help is now on the way, one linear foot at a time.

According to the city, new sidewalks compliant to Americans with Disabilities Act standards will be laid down this year along Mississippi Avenue between Howard and Alabama avenues.

Stretches on Gandy Boulevard between Quincy and Elberon streets, and on Georgia Avenue between Neptune Street and Mississippi Avenue, are also officially on the list.



Ashley gets resurfaced

The second ray of light concerned Ashley Drive’s restoration.

I got a firsthand taste of this project on my way home. It was a rough spot in the early stages, when they peeled back ragged pavement to create a fresh canvas.

Work to restore Ashley Drive between Interstate 275 and Channelside Drive began in mid-March and is now almost complete.

It’s actually an interim step to make existing surfaces more passable while the transportation division conducts more studies. During the next 18 months, planning will continue on how to create more pedestrian-friendly thoroughfares that can support increasing traffic loads.

Meanwhile, this stopgap restoration makes it less painful to cruise Ashley’s once scraggly surface, which now sports a slick new topcoat with bright painted markings.

Construction was tackled by the city’s transportation division, and came with a $250,000 price tag, culled from city operating funds.

What a nice improvement for downtown.

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This, from the DOT, and we might read betwixt the lines:

TAMPA – From April 2 to 8, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) will celebrate National Work Zone Awareness week by continuing its year-long campaign, “Work Zone Safety. It’s Everyone’s Job.”

The goal of the campaign is to reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities in highway work zones.

“We want Floridians to realize that everyone has a hand in work zone safety, not only during this commemorative week, but every time they use the roadways.” said FDOT Assistant Secretary Kevin Thibault, the Governor’s Highway Safety Representative. “It truly is everyone’s job to ensure safe travels through highway construction zones.”

In 2004, the most recent traffic crash data for Florida, 120 fatalities occurred in 3,698 crashes in highway work zones. Although highway construction remains one of the most dangerous jobs in America, nine out of ten persons killed in highway work zones in Florida are motorists or pedestrians.

FDOT is joined by the Florida Highway Patrol, the Federal Highway Administration, the American Traffic Safety Services Association, the Florida Sheriff’s Association, the Florida Police Chiefs Association, and several other state and national transportation organizations as partners in the campaign.

Specifically, FHP will continue “Operation Hardhat,” a traffic safety program that features troopers disguised as construction workers to catch unsuspecting speeders.

“Florida Highway Patrol continues to work in cooperation with FDOT by providing enforcement details in work zones,” said FHP Director Colonel Chris Knight. “Through this partnership, we are striving to make working and driving in Florida’s work zones safer than ever before.”

FDOT urges motorists of all ages to drive safely in highway work zones by following these safety tips:

· Stay alert. Expect anything to occur when entering a work zone.

· Pay close attention.  Signs and work zone flaggers save lives.

· Turn on your headlights. Workers and other motorists must see you.

· Don’t tailgate. Unexpected stops frequently occur in work zones.

· Don’t speed. Note the posted speed limits in and around the work
zone.

· Keep up with the traffic flow. Dedicate your full attention to the
roadway and those traveling around you.

· Don’t change lanes in the work zone. The time saved just isn’t worth
the chance.

· Minimize distractions. Avoid changing radio stations and using mobile
phones while driving in the work zone.

· Expect the unexpected. Keep an eye out for workers and their
equipment.

· Be patient. Remember, the work zone crewmembers are working to
improve your future ride.

· ALWAYS WEAR YOUR SEATBELT!

For more information about the work zone safety campaign or current road construction projects in your area, visit itseveryonesjob.com.

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Well, she asked the question:

To a query from Wesley Chapel’s Debbie New whether Tampa Bay drivers might consider adopting the European convention of “zippering” at highway entrance ramps—in which merging drivers accelerate to match their speed with the traffic already on the highway to meld onto it seamlessly, like a zipper—caller Bob McCarty of Tampa suggests:

“No, I don’t think it will catch on here… at least not until that other European tradition catches on:

“Drive right, pass left.”

And I also asked a question:

Jim Fleck of Tampa answered:

“You wanted to know how we pass the time commuting? You’re insane if you pass the time doing anything but DRIVING. Driving is a full-time job. Anything that draws attention from keeping from getting yourself killed out there is a bad idea.

“You can’t shave, eat, talk on a cell phone… without losing some degree of attention. I see people with a map spread across their steering wheel, women applying makeup ...

“I’ve been here since 1945, and I’m too old for the traffic here now. I have a Gull Wing trike. We’ve been talking about moving to Crystal River. We have a wooded acre there off U.S. 19.

“… there are just too many bad wrecks on the roads here, and there’ll be another one if I hang around here too much longer.”

And Adam Yalowich had a couple:

Even though he waited an hour after his usual departure time for work, he got caught up in March 8’s universal gridlock trying to get downtown. When he read that a city official had described the staging of the sold-out Get Motivated! seminar during rush hour as a “perfect storm,’’ he was flabbergasted.

“This seminar happens at the same time of day every year. There’s the same big ad in the paper. And on that morning, I saw one policeman.

“That Saturday at a walkathon (on Bayshore Boulevard) I saw ten officers in front of Davis Islands.... I saw eight officers at that Naked Bike ride, and they only had a dozen (not quite naked) riders.

“The city has to know that if they set something for rush hour, this is the problem they’re going to have. And they have to know which are the tough intersections coming in… I tried 10 different ways in. On Morgan Street, the lights lasted 15 second each time. Almost nobody got through.

“They can’t be doing this. They can’t be inconveniencing that many people. And now they’re encouraging all these people to move into condos? They want new office buildings downtown?

“They need to get it together.’’

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On Saturday, Stanley Freeman, he of Free-Man Electric Bicycles, is sponsoring an electric bike and scooter show and a poker run for scooters, beginning at 11 a.m. at the Tiny Tap, across the street from Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 4321, 2010 Morrison Ave.

The veterans group will benefit from the proceeds of the event for motor scooter aficionados—such as Vespa and other such two-wheeled vehicles. Food—hamburgers, hot dogs and sausage—will be sold. And with Pabst Blue Ribbon is a sponsor, there may well be beer available as well.

There will be a band featuring rock ‘n’ roll, blues and folk music, Freeman said, and a bunch of low-powered, low gas-consumption vehicles. (Electric bikes use about four cents worth of electricity for each day’s charge, and cost between $500 and $1,000.

Besides Pabst, other sponsors are Vespa and, of course, Free-Man Electric Bikes.

For scooters, riders need only a driver’s license, Freeman said; for motorcycles, a motorcycle endorsement is required. “But the beauty of the electric bike is you don’t need any license at all,” so long as it has a top speed of 20 mph or less.

Which gives Stanley a niche.

Each day, he said, he goes down to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office to pull the records of all those folks charged with driving under the influence during the previous 24 hours—which virtually guarantees this group of would-be buyers will fall into that special “no driver’s license” category.

“I send every one of them a card. It hasn’t worked out that great so far, but I’m sure it will,” he said.

For more information on this April Fool’s Day event, call Freeman at (813) 259-9006.

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Steve Cook, of the Florida Department of Transportation’s District 7, our district, champions motorcycle riders, whom he said “must sometimes feel that you have a big “Hit Me” sign on your backs,” especially as they ride the “mean streets” of the Tampa Bay area.

“Who among us,” he asks, in a recent newsletter of this district’s Community Traffic Safety Teams, “has not had the coffee-drinking, cell-phone talking, makeup-applying SUV driver ease over into our lane? I was cut off twice on Ulmerton Road just the other day.”

He cites the “Hurt Study,” by H. H. “Bill” Hurt Jr. and other researchers, which says the single most common - and deadly - cause of motorcycle crashes is a vehicle turning left into their path. “If you’ve had this happen, then you know how scary it can be.”

(A good summary of the Hurt Study is available at: http://www.webbikeworld.com/Motorcycle-Safety/Hurt-study-summary.htm.)

“Who has the responsibility to assure you have a safe ride? It would be nice to believe that the four-wheel vehicle operator will obey the rules, see you, yield the right of properly, etc. [But] too often that’s not the case. Invariably [after a car-motorcycle crash] the car’s driver says: “I didn’t see [him].”

“The cold, hard fact,” Cook wrote, “is that responsibility for your safety rests solely on you.”

To that end, he advises riders who haven’t done it to take the time to get some professional training, which is available for both experienced and novice riders, and is aimed at preparing them for “real-world situations.”

Motorcycle rider courses teach and improve skills such as: effective turning, braking maneuvers, obstacle avoidance and traffic strategies, plus help selecting protective apparel and developing responsible attitudes.

For information on the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles” Florida Rider Training Program, Cook suggests checking out: http://casey.hsmv.state.fl.us/intranet/dd/motorcycles.

For more information on motorcycle safety, he recommends: NHTSA

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The view of an accident takes on a different perspective from the front line. You know the front line I’m talking about – it’s the place you’re in when you’re the first car in a line waiting for an intersection signal light to change.
When you’re in that position and an accident happens in the intersection, not only do you get a front-row seat to the demolition, there’s always that part of you that wonders if someone will spin out of control and make you a part of it.
Last week, on my way to our Brandon office just before nine o’clock in the morning, I was in the left-hand turn lane, facing east at the Bloomingdale-Providence intersection when two vans collided about 20 feet from me.
A white work van came off Providence Road at just the same time a red newer-model van hit the intersection headed west on Bloomingdale Avenue.
The white van moved through at the end of a long line of cars that had just passed through the intersection, so I assume his signal had been green and just turned either yellow, or red.
The red van was just leaving the starting gate after the green light came on. Yes, it was her turn, but I’m sure in retrospect the driver of that van would have gladly given up those first few seconds after the light changed to alter the outcome of the event, which was – of course – a collision.
Now I’ve seen plenty of accidents, but something about being pinned in that helpless position at the front of the line, watching the event unfold, gave me a different view.
The white van plowed into the passenger side of the red van – smack – and parts flew everywhere. The next thing I knew a woman jumped out of the red van and pulled open the back doors and was unloading children in the middle of the road.
As the light changed, I had to move through the wreckage to get out of the way of others roaring behind me, but saw over my shoulder that the man in the white van was helping the woman get the children out of the road and had a cell phone to his ear, so I assumed he was calling for help.
I’m telling this story because I know these accidents are happening around us every day. And some, like the one I witnessed, could be avoided with just a moments’ delay.
With our traffic jams, driver’s tempers overheat even faster than their cars and people often stomp on the gas the second they get the chance. In this case, it was before they observed what was going on around them and that caused an accident.
So be careful out there. Traffic around here is really a mess.

If the shoe fits ...
Tod McGinley wrote me an interesting letter this week about a theory he has about some of the accidents he’s seen. One type of accident in particular – where a driver goes through a store window.
It seems he’s seen several of these lately, all with senior drivers behind the wheel, in or around Sun City Center. When our office was in Sun City Center Plaza, I saw several of them, too.
“Usually the person says their accelerator stuck and they lost control,” McGinley said. “But I have always suspected what actually happened is that their foot slipped off the brake and over to the gas pedal.” Armed with this theory, Tod began to ponder how this could happen.
“In thinking about what could cause this, I focused on the possibility the soles of their shoes were slippery, or newly purchased and the driver just doesn’t have the ‘feel’ they should have.”
Tod admits this has happened to him while wearing men’s dress shoes with leather soles. “I was fortunate enough to avoid landing with my foot on the accelerator,” he said. “But it might be a good thing to tell readers about so they can get a real ‘feel’ for any new footwear they are wearing before they get behind the wheel.”
So let’s all take Tod’s advice and check the tread on our feet as well as the tread on our tires and we might be able to avoid coming face-to-face with a store window, or worse.
u Send your questions and concerns to me at 3036 College Ave., Ruskin, FL 33570 or e-mail them to .

Penny Fletcher is the editor of The Sun and the South Shore News.

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