THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 8, 1995 TAG: 9509070184
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: The Road Warrior
LENGTH: Long : 127 lines
Road's phone has been ringing off the hook this week with calls from folks in the Bow Creek area.
They're wondering what's going on with the Bow Creek Bridge.
Road's like, bridge? What bridge?
Turns out, Bow Creek does have a bridge. Or did have a bridge.
It's been torn down in preparation for a new bridge, complete with bike trail and sidewalk.
The project started in July and calls for the removal of the existing bridge (which has been done) and the construction of a new bridge featuring one lane for each direction, a marked bicycle path and a separate sidewalk.
The new bridge also will be slightly higher so that canoe enthusiasts don't have to duck while paddling under it.
Engineers project that the bridge will be open for traffic sometime in mid-December and the work will be wrapped up completely by mid-January.
Until then, cars are asked to detour around the site. Pedestrians, however, can use the temporary walkway that workers have erected over London Bridge Creek.
The Department of Motor Vehicles is issuing driver's license numbers to those who no longer want to be identified on their license by their Social Security number.
A DMV computer will generate one letter and eight numerals for those who prefer to be identified in this manner. This assigned letter and number is what will appear on the driver's license.
Of course, people still have to show their Social Security number to a DMV representative when they renew, and if they're looking to change their license before it expires, it'll cost $5.
If they're renewing at their regular time or getting their license for the first time, it's free.
SNARLS OF THE WEEK
The following people called Road's INFOLINE number with their complaints.
Cheryl Grove, no address given. When is somebody going to start ticketing all the people who are doing 75 and 80 mph on I-64 and Route 44?
It's just absolutely ridiculous that we all have to have people running over us all the time. You can't even do 65 mph without someone trying to run clear over you. Where's all the police?
RW: Well, Cheryl, they're out there and fairly visible, too. Often, the State Police are more visible than our own city police.
In fact, Road witnessed the ticketing of a lawless shoulder lane rider just the other day.
There are just not enough cops to meet the demand nowadays. They can't be everywhere at once.
M.G., Bayside. Twice in the last week I've been nearly rear-ended when I saw a light go yellow, from quite a distance away. I stopped while the light was still yellow, thinking it was going to be red by the time I got under it.
As I learned in driver's ed, a yellow light is an option. You sort of judge whether you can get through it and act accordingly. It's legal to stop and it's legal to go through, but, if you've got somebody accelerating behind you thinking you're going to go through what do you do?
In one case, when I stopped, the gentleman actually blew his horn at me, switched to another lane and actually ran the red.
Should I make it a policy to just shoot through all the yellow lights that I see?
RW: According to page 46, paragraph three of the 1994-95 Virginia Driver's Manual, ``Caution: a steady yellow light is a warning that the light is about to change. If you have not entered the intersection, you should come to a safe stop. If you are already in the intersection, you should continue moving and clear it safely. Speeding up to beat the light is illegal and could cause an accident.''
Road's a firm believer in the following-too close rule, or the two-second rule - pick a spot that a vehicle has just passed and start counting . . . one one-thousand, two one-thousand. If your car passes that same spot before you get to two, you're too close.
Most police officers are also believers in this rule and they're happy to ticket folks who slam into the back of other cars because they're following too close.
Mat Danehy, Wake Forest Street. The city of Virginia Beach was flushing fire hydrants, and they managed to undermine the sand underneath the road and now we have a 2-by-3-foot pothole. The city appears to be creating problems for itself. It needs to be filled.
RW: Actually, the folks at the city seem to think you're talking about a utility cut, since it's so big. Anyhow, they're sending a member of the Pothole Patrol to check it out.
Jane Gordeon, Condor Street. I live behind Value City at Witchduck and Virginia Beach Boulevard. There is a street there called Richard Street where a lot of people go in and out of the townhouses.
They need to put a ``no U-turn'' sign in there. A lot of people come in and do a U-turn to go to Value City. At 5 p.m. that's a big hazard when you're trying to go left. Can you please have the engineers check it out?
RW: Seeing as the left turners and U-turners have a left turn pocket in which to prepare and take their turn, engineers say there's no reason to restrict the movement. Now, if there was no lane to turn left and traffic was backing up behind them, that'd be a different story.
At 5 p.m., most every road in this city is experiencing some kind of congestion, making for longer waits.
Vernon Fix, Kempsville. My concern is people that drive in the evening or in the early morning, during the dusk and dawn periods, when it's not dark and it's not light. They're running around either with no lights on or parking lights on. My main beef is parking lights are for parking and they shouldn't be running up and down the road with them on because you can't even see a lot of the parking lights. They should put their headlights on.
Matter of fact, it wouldn't hurt to leave the headlights on all day. It'd be a lot safer.
RW: A lot of cars on the market today come with lights that stay on when the key's in the ignition - dusk or dawn, rain or shine.
Again, the Virginia Driver's manual says, ``Turn your lights on anytime you have difficulty seeing other vehicles. If you have trouble seeing them, their drivers are probably having trouble seeing you. You must use your headlights from sunset to sunrise and on rainy, snowy, foggy or gray days. Even if you can see, taking this precaution will help others see you.''
One thing Road and a co-worker were wondering about was your comment about the ``parking lights.'' Why do we have parking lights? We certainly don't leave them on while we're parked or we'd all have stock in a battery company.
The handbook doesn't mention a word about parking lights. Maybe, as the co-worker said, ``they're just appendages.'' MEMO: Tell the Road Warrior about your motoring problems. Get 'em off your
chest. Call on Infoline, at 640-5555. After a brief message, dial ROAD
(7623). When directed, press 1 to deliver your message, and 1 again to
sign off.
Or, write: The Road Warrior, Virginia Beach Beacon, 4565 Virginia
Beach Blvd., Virginia Beach, Va. 23462.
Don't forget to include your name, address and neighborhood.
by CNB