Red lights, rants and speeding blues

Seeing Red

A.L. recently asked me what happened to Spokane’s consideration of photo enforcement for red-light runners. He believes that implementing the technology would cut down on intersection wrecks, and be a department moneymaker.

I can’t find anyone with a definitive answer as to why the idea was scrapped here, A.L. The problem of fudging traffic light timing certainly has not disappeared.

Cities across America have had good results with such programs, and they are talking about it in Knoxville, Tenn. The News Sentinel just reported on the Knoxville results after three months of traffic light surveillance. Regarding the first scofflaw: “Casey Howard was talking on his hands-free cell phone and writing something on a paper tablet when he became the first driver ticketed under the city’s red-light camera program. He thinks he was doing the same thing three weeks later when he got his second ticket. The 37-year old Faragut resident said,’There will not be a number 3. I guarantee that. I’ve been cured.’ “

Howard’s comment is just what Capt. Gordon Catlett Jr. wants to hear. According to Catlett, who oversees the photo enforcement program for the Knoxville Police Department, “We’re trying to change people’s driving habits. People are trying to squeeze a little bit too much out of the yellow.”

Sounds like Spokane to me.

Knoxville’s population is similar to that of Spokane, and in the first three months of operation, the photo devices have captured 8,007 offenses. I think that ticketing more Spokane offenders would have a positive effect on intersection safety.

Excessive Idling

A bad experience with noxious fumes led reader L.S. to write, “I was at Dick’s last month, and the entire time there was a man sitting in his diesel pick-up with the engine running. The noise, smell and waste in general was enough to make me irate. I gave him the ‘cut it’ sign as I was leaving but he was reading his paper. I was hoping the logical reason was his rigor mortis had set in.”

Sorry you encountered that situation, L.S. At least you tried to determine a logical reason for the behavior, but it was kind of a morbid one. The sound and smell of a diesel-powered vehicle idling in your vicinity gets old quickly. Additionally, as you mentioned in your note, the fuel waste is unnecessary.

Most experts agree that you should turn off your engine if the idling will last over a minute. This does not apply to sitting at traffic lights, although most of them don’t stay red for much over a minute anyway.

Please think about excessive idling, and shut down when you can. It will be better for the environment, your pocket book, and L.S.’s blood pressure.

Speedometer Blues

S.V. sent me a note sharing his disgust with speedometer design. The speedos in both of his vehicles have a top reading of 160, which makes lower speeds hard to read.

S.V. wrote, “Both of these speedos share the same calibration. They are small gauges, which start at zero and are marked in twenty m/h increments. It’s really easy to see the numbers at 100, 120 and 160 but when it comes to maintaining 30 in a business district or 45 approaching a town, there’s no choice but to take eyes off the road and try to figure just what the heck the needle is indicating.”

I agree, S.V. It seems odd to include that unused high-speed range at the expense of readability within more common speed ranges. I suppose it has to do with marketing, and garnering excitement in the showroom.

Drive Right, Pass Left

Left-lane drivers sure get a lot of attention. I’ve written of the subject many times here and every time I look there’s more about it somewhere. I just found another Web site devoted to the subject: www.driverightpassleft.com/.

There, one can find articles and opinions, along with the laws regarding left-lane travel in all 50 states.

A quick review for Washington: On a road with two or more lanes in each direction of travel, one may use the left lane when about to make a left turn, when passing a slower vehicle that is in the right lane, and when moving left to allow a merge from the right. If you wish to look up the RCW, it is 46.61.100.

Thanks to everyone who contributes to this column by e-mailing or writing to me. Please keep it up — every idea and opinion is important!