Mea culpa! Mea culpa! I have heard from more of you than I care to count that somehow I managed to write all about that American Safety Council online traffic test two weeks ago but forgot to include the Web site so you could take the test, too. Call me stupid, but keep your voices down.
This test is designed to update and refresh your knowledge about driving. And if you pass it, you are, by law, entitled to a three-year reduction in your automobile insurance premiums.
This is not a substitute for whatever Department of Motor Vehicles tests you might be required to take. Sorry. If the folks at DMV want you, you're going to have to go to one of their offices.
I should also caution you not to pay extra money to get expedited handling of your certificate, if you pass the test. I asked for regular mail service (for which there is no charge). I passed the test on Thursday and had the certificate the following Monday.
In addition, my insurance company didn't ask me to send in the certificate before honoring the mandated premium discount. They simply took the certificate number by phone and told me I would save about $100 a year for the next three years.
I consider that worthwhile.
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We had inquiries about a construction project on 22nd Avenue S near 37th Street. Apparently it has been making life miserable for people in the area.
Here's the truth: The city is doing this on purpose because the city doesn't like you.
Well, no, that's not the truth. But this is:
This project is another of those sanitary sewer improvements made necessary because the city's aging sewer system is crumbling faster than money can be found to fix it. It isn't anybody's fault. It's a matter of the pipes reaching and exceeding their useful life span.
We have been told that the project should be wrapped up by now, and if the work isn't quite done, it will be in the next few days. You will have your streets back to normal and maybe even better than they were before.
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We had another inquiry from a reader complaining about that new emergency signal put up by the state roadies on Fourth Street N at about 25th Avenue, in front of the firehouse. According to this reader, the light flashes yellow all the time, and he was nearly hit by a fire department medical unit as it left the firehouse on a flashing yellow signal.
The reader indicated he didn't know that a vehicle was leaving the firehouse because the appearance of the emergency signal didn't change.
We asked Officials in the Know, a very elite bunch, and this is what they told us.
The activation button is between the two doors of the firehouse. Fire officials push the button as they prepare to leave on a call. There is a 15-second delay before anything happens, presumably to let them start their engines and buckle up. This is followed by four seconds with the light on solid yellow facing the firehouse itself and both ways on Fourth Street, just like a regular traffic signal.
The light then turns red for three seconds in all three directions and then red for another 30 seconds both ways on Fourth Street.
Best guess is that the near accident mentioned above was caused by the fire/rescue personnel starting the countdown sequence a little too late, so that the light was still flashing yellow when they left the building.
The safest thing you can do is glance at the building before you go through a flashing yellow. If the doors are open and a truck is coming out, stop, regardless of what the light signals. The emergency vehicles have the right of way.
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We had a question last week from Dick Averitt, a reader who is new to St. Petersburg, asking about ongoing work on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. We hadn't visited the subject in a while, so we first looked at the state roadie Web site.
It turns out, the $10-million project to partly fill all of the bridge columns with concrete was to be completed, well, now. The fall of 2003 it said, right there in blue and white.
What gives? How come there still are crews out there at night committing work?
As it happens, the $10-million column project is done. A few years ago, bridge engineers discovered that water had seeped into three of the bridge's 71 columns and corroded the cables inside. Since the cables are integral to the bridge's structural integrity, they had to be protected.
So the roadies decided to fill all the columns to a point just above the waterline with concrete, to encase and protect the cables. It's done.
But there is additional work the bridge needs to upgrade the superstructure, and that will push the work into next spring.
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Our Eyeball Jiggler of the Week several columns back dealt with some serious pavement damage in the left turn lanes from westbound Roosevelt Boulevard to southbound 28th Street. The asphalt looks like a rumpled blanket.
State roadie spokeswoman Kris Carson informs us that the damage will be fixed within the next few weeks. This is a high-traffic area and so the work will be done at night. We're not talking patches, either. The rutting and pavement shoving caused by the enormous wheel loads of the big trucks that make the turn have done such severe damage that a new roadway will be required.
If we could add this aside (and we can because it's our column), the damage wouldn't have been done if those big vehicles, including city buses and sanitation trucks, weren't regularly taking that turn at high speed as they blatantly run red lights.
- 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.
