Solid double yellow line marks road to confusion

Well!

Talk about your firestorm of confusion.

We did it. We had the help of several local residents and several local police agencies, but we have to take full and complete responsibility for the results because we published them right here in this column.

In the past few months, we have had inquiries about situations in disparate parts of southern Pinellas County where people must cross solid double yellow lines to make left turns into streets, driveways and parking lots. Last week, the example involved turns from eastbound Third Avenue S into the parking lot of AAA Auto Club South in St. Petersburg.

On each occasion, we dealt with questions of whether it was legal to cross solid double yellows to make left turns. We checked with local police and sheriff's offices. In each case we were told, yes, it is quite illegal to do that.

One case was particularly upsetting to Jessie, because barring people from making lefts across double solid yellow effectively cut them off from their homes. Jessie wondered how those people's pets ever got fed. Jessie worries a lot about getting fed.

We don't know why no one noticed before this, but in the past week the state roadies, arbiters of a lot of road stuff, legal and otherwise, have been all over us.

So to set the record straight, once and for all, and to help all those police officers out there who are as confused as we are, here are the rules, straight from the driver's license handbook. If they don't get it right, nobody will.

A single solid, broken or dotted line may be crossed with care. In yellow, it means pass with due care. In white, it means to change lanes with due care.

A double solid line may not be crossed. In yellow, it means no passing. In white, a double solid line means do not change lanes. However, a double solid yellow line may be crossed in making a left turn.

A dotted line is used to guide vehicles into particular paths such as through intersections where solid or broken or skip lines would be confusing.

A solid line with a dotted line has several meanings. Passing or crossing is prohibited if the solid line is on the side where the vehicle is traveling.

Are we all on the same page now?

I can tell you one thing for certain: Jessie and I shall never visit this subject again.

Almost as dicey is the new Eyeball Jiggler of the Week.

Our nominee is the intersection of Ulmerton Road and 34th Street along the extreme right lanes of westbound Ulmerton.

The pavement is chewed up worse than an old shoe in a puppy's possession. And the constant pounding of heavy commuter and snowbird traffic seems to make it worse by the week.

We understand that the entire length of Ulmerton is on schedule to be resurfaced and improved, but it could be years away, and our eyeballs won't hold out that long.

Sheesh.

We are moved once again to inquire: Are there no standards?

We would like to suggest that state roadies look in on the intersection of 34th Street at 54th Avenue N. The left-turn arrow for southbound 34th Street traffic turning onto 54th Avenue isn't long enough to allow even a half-dozen cars through, and fewer if somebody delays getting started or makes a U-turn.

Not only is that a busy intersection, it is a major access point to I-275.

The problem was called to our attention by a reader, and we went over and watched a while. It looked as if about five seconds more green arrow time would help a lot.

We thank you.

This brings us to our weekly Carbungle feature, recounting things other drivers do that drive the rest of us nuts. (I promised I wouldn't use the boil pun again.)

Our pet peeve is directed at drivers who throw lighted cigarettes out their car windows, creating a shower of sparks for the rest of us to drive through. While we know this transgression is no worse at night than it is during the day, it looks a lot worse in the dark, like a poorly conceived and badly executed fireworks show on the Fifth of July.

Just stop it. It's messy. It's environmentally hazardous, particularly to birds who mistake your butts for food. And during dry weather periods, it risks brush fires.

Next time you are tempted to toss a butt out the window, check around your car. You will find a little pull-out drawer thingy. It's called an ashtray. It's meant for storing cigarette remains.

Use it. Please.

And now, Dr. Delay's Terrible Traffic Tidbits:

Sales of light trucks set a monthly record, with 908,474 units sold in October, surpassing the previous record of 827,692, set only the previous March. Either those 0 percent interest rates drew people in like flies, or all the people who bought in March had an irresistable urge to have two new trucks in the driveway.

There were 220-million vehicles in the nation's highway fleet in 1999, 22-million more than a decade earlier. And that's before we all went on a truck-buying binge.

-- Dr. Delay can be reached by e-mail at docdelay@sptimes.com, by fax at (727) 893-8675 or by snail mail at 490 First Ave., S, St. Petersburg 33701.

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