A couple of things.....first we just passed by a car, truck bang-up... in a circle. It happened just before we arrived on scene, on our way to the grocery store and as we headed home, the Sumter County Sheriff was now at the scene. It appeared that there was an auto in the right lane, a truck in the left lane and the auto decided it was going to continue around the circle and got hit by the truck that was going to proceed out of the circle, correctly. The auto continuing around the circle, incorrectly was driven by an older adult, and the driver of the truck, considerably younger, was taking care of her. Neither appeared hurt, but one car door is going to need repair or replacement.

We've had golf carts riding along in the golf cart lane on O'Dell, suddenly decide they were going to make a left turn, and proceeded to drive across our lane and the lane going in the other direction, to make that left turn. Why we didn't hit them with our car was a miracle....and why I didn't have a heart attack is also one. I now have additional gray hair, which I don't need, thank you very much, but we all survived. Honestly, if I had been out of the car I would have slapped that cart driver right up side the head.

I'm paying attention to my driving and my surroundings, all others should be doing the same and not leave me responsible for the safety of all other residents and drivers here in TV...too much work for one person.

Well said.

And another thing to worry about is all of the brand new drivers driving golf carts that have never before driven a car.

There is another issue about golf carts being able to *STOP*. LSVs and NEVs are required to have hydraulic brakes or better. Most golf cart brakes do not have the ability to stop in time to avoid a problem at excessive speeds. I know my cart wants to slide rather than stop so I take this into consideration when operating my cart regardless of the speed. Most near-misses I have had on the cart paths were due to inattentive drivers, not speed. Speaking from experience, drivers cited without radar usually do something to bring attention to themselves. Personally, I see no reason for me to follow a slower golf cart if it can be passed safely and I will continue to do so

Almost got hit today at Publix at Colony. I was not in a car or cart. I was pushing my shopping cart to my car when people in their car just put it in reverse and backed out. I had to jump out of the way or they would have hit me. I think they probably looked to their left to see if anyone was driving down the lane, but never considered that someone was walking from the other direction. Got to look both ways, people! :22yikes:

What laws are being broken by the people who use the round-a-bouts improperly? (Who determines the right and wrong way to use a round-about) There is no law that says one MUST stay in the right lane in order to exit at the first or second exit. Those guidelines are simply advise, and not the law from what I understand.

Police would be hard pressed to convince a judge that somebody did something illegally in a round-a-bout when the judge probably doesn't know how to use them either.

I have a personal observation about using the villages rotaries. So many people use them wrong that when one tries to use them correctly, they are putting them selves in the line of fire. It's sometimes easier to go with the flow, improper that it might be, than to try to do it right. Doing it the right way can cause an accident.

Let's say that you're at a multi-lane intersection and you pull into one of the 2 left lanes that are marked with arrows for left turns. the lights go green and you decide to turn right. If that's not against the law, it should be. I believe that's what pretty much is what's happening when that person exits the inside lane and cuts in front of you to turn off the roundabout. I don't think that there is any excuse for this. If you miss your turn, go around again until you get into the outer lane.

I thought I'd posted something, but can't seem to find it now. Guess I only Previewed the post. You're right as far as I'm concerned, Lary. Sheriff Wolfe did a presentation at one of our Social Club meetings and brought along a brochure on the Round Abouts. Here in TV they are marked with arrows....right lane can proceed straight ahead or to the right, left lane can proceed straight ahead or continue around the circle. It's not that difficult. The accident I saw today appeared to be one that most likely will happen. The car was in the right lane and wanted to continue around the circle where someone was preparing to go straight ahead and exit the circle in the left lane. Cripes if I can figure it out, anyone can. One can run into a problem when they are in the left lane and must then get into the right to enter a gate. That's when we have to be alert, recite the mantra, "Please don't kill me, please don't kill me," and pray like crazy... ;)

And use your signals to indicate where you intend to go.

Therein lies the problem.

You're probably correct and just another example of hypocrisy. These roundabouts cause more accidents than speeding yet the goodie two-shoes (not referring to you explicitly TH) of the world say "lock em up if they speed"!

Screw around and not follow 'best practices' in the roundabouts? Oh, that's just advice!

For a refresher: http://www.districtgov.org/PdfView/P...27&ql=standard

It continues to completely baffle me how anyone can't remember the roundabout 'rules'. It should become second nature to any TV resident after one week! It's not any form of rocket science!

TH, do the math, if you were on the force for 4 years how many law breakers could you have pulled over that said they were doing nothing wrong, I suspect the number is considerably less than 2 million....gn

Your car probably will go 100 mph. Now what do you do to slow it down?

I think most everybody else knew that I was being facetious with that number. But thanks anyway for trying to point out a weakness in my story.

You know, It's amusing. As I was writing that, I knew you were going to jump in here and say something about it.

"goodie two-shoes" I'm wondering why it's necessary to assign a demeaning name to people who support enforcement of the law.

Are they actually issuing tickets for "speeding" or are the tickets being issued for not registering an LSV since the cart exceeds the non LSV limits? I don't think there are any enforceable speed limits on the cart paths and I can't recall posts alleging tickets were issued for some sort of speed violation.

If so, there is no "leeway" involved, you get a ticket for non registered LSV which would be appropriate.

Couldn't agree more.

Gas or electric.?
 

If I had to guess, I would say the folks complaining about speeding golf carts are driving electric carts...maybe not 100%, but I'd think greater than 75%.

Am I wrong ????

Uh-oh............here we go!!! :popcorn:

Bill :)

Yeah....maybe I better change my avatar! :)

I laughed out loud...... :)

Maybe tell people you just sold your new place and moved out of TV or something, too! :throwtomatoes:

Bill

I saw a Smart car in the traffic circle near Savannah Center two or three weeks ago that was going the wrong way in the circle. He had stopped on the inside lane, and police were there trying to untangle the mess he made of the traffic. Smart car, but that doesn't mean the driver was smart. I still can't understand how someone can enter a traffic circle the wrong way, but there he was. I was glad to be in my golf cart that day, going 19.9 mph or thereabouts, btw.

Maybe they were from the UK .... It's easy to do, especially when you are accustomed to going around the other direction...

A speedometer for your new avatar............falling out of my chair laughing! :wave:

Bill

I don't think that's demeaning at all. Some people go by the letter of the law and I go by what makes common sense. I'm not a goodie two-shoes, I go by intent. If you think situations like Waldo speed traps are law enforcement then you can call yourself whatever you like. I think that's outright OVER enforcement. Stopping someone for going 40 in 35 on a straight away while driving safely with no one else around while people make stupid moves in round-abouts with impunity makes absolutely no sense. But some people still say "then they shouldn't speed".

But I apologize to anyone who has two good shoes. Let's change that to 'letter of the law' people.

I wonder if the letter-of-the-law people dutifully walk to the crosswalk every time they are in one of the town squares if they want to quickly go into a shop across the street. After all, J-walking is also against the law. Perhaps we should have several deputies patrolling the squares and cracking down on the J-walking miscreants. Since we seem to have sufficient police to crack down on golf carts going a couple of miles over the limit, we probably also have enough to keep our streets safe from J-walkers. Book'em Dano!

I don't know personally of anyone who received a ticket for fast cart driving.

The first of January they were out in force, parked everywhere, (the fuzz) maybe because of the snowbirds returning?

I think they are watching the real bad guys now.

Or...maybe I just haven't seen them.

Has anyone seen any over-policing LATELY?

AND the link to the correct way to drive a roundabout should be printed and given to anyone new, as a kindness. Thank you for it, Russ.

Here it is again.

http://www.districtgov.org/PdfView/P...27&ql=standard

Demonizing people who believe that citizens should obey the laws doesn't further your argument. Traffic laws are established for the safety of the public. If it was left up to the public to decide what the limits are, there would be no limits.

People who complain about speeding tickets are often those who have been caught speeding.

Rather than accept personal responsibility, they try to lay the blame at everyone else's door.

So to all policemen out there - keep up the good work

and to all law-abiding citizens - you should be proud of yourselves.

Only In TV
 

The saying "If you don't like the way I drive, stay off the sidewalk" holds credence. Saw a gentleman yesterday morning around 8:40 driving on the sidewalk :oops: near the road @ Colony Rec Center. He had a MI plate.

Go Bucks

gg - That link was incomplete. Try this one:

http://www.districtgov.org/PdfView/P...27&ql=standard

Bill :)

Didn't take the time to read everbody's post but "Thank God" for police. They try to keep us safe. Where would we be without police and laws??:shrug:

The one essential rule that makes a roundabout work is to not enter the roundabout until both lanes are clear. If everyone followed that rule, you would never have a situation where a vehicle in the left lane crosses the path of one in the right lane.

The problem is that this rule is counterintuitive to what people are used to. When you merge onto a multilane highway and have a yield sign, do you wait for all lanes to be clear or just the right lane. For most people it would be the latter I’ll bet.

The only real solution is to rebuild the roundabouts to a single lane with a right lane for right turns only. I know this can be done in a way that would not impede tractor trailers either. Unfortunately, since these are county roads, that probably won’t happen.

I didn't realize that pointing out hypocrisy was a form of demonization, but I guess it's consistent with the general theme of this thread: people have different views of things such as what constitutes dangerous behavior that requires enforcement or what is "demonization" versus pointing out an inconsistency.

Aren't J-walking laws established for the safety of the general public? Why are you selectively highlighting the issue of cracking down on one issue of public safety and not another?

There is no attempt at being selective. I think maybe you confused your thinking with mine. If they are guilty of Jay Walking then they should be charged accordingly.

I guess this is the crux of our differing opinions: I believe that laws are essential for the maximization of public safety. As such and since enforcement of all laws equally in all situations would inevitably lead to some of the more serious situations with less enforcement while the police are spending time on the more benign situations.

I would hope that the police would use judgement as opposed to responding like robots - and in the case of J-walking they do, since if they really were cracking down on this illegal activity with equal force, they would have to have a trailer to hold the summons books for all the J-walking that regularly occurs at the town squares. But, since this activity really doesn't pose as great a threat to public safety, the police look the other way ... thankfully.

My view that is shared by others here is that stopping golf carts going a few miles over their designated maximum speed is akin to having a police presence to stop J-walking in the squares - there are far more serious threats to our public safety that this level of enforcement could be better used.

Others hold the opposite view, saying a law is a law and if it is violated it should be punished. My question to them is: would you really want the police writing tickets to people coming out of Ambrosia with their ice cream cones and walking across the street to the square without going up to the crosswalk?

To be fair, NJblue, the whole jay-walking argument has been introduced into this thread as a straw man, to be knocked down in the hope of trying to prove that ticketing speeders is a waste of police time.

Most people who have argued here that speeding should be discouraged have expressed no opinion on jay-walking, so it is incorrect to make the assumption that they are also in favor of police spending time ticketing jay-walkers.

I personally am in favor of discouraging speeding, but do not care whether or not people jay-walk. Why? Because if I get hit by a jay-walker coming out of Ambrosia I may get some ice cream on me – annoying but hardly serious. If I get hit by a speeding vehicle…

The initial question in this thread basically asked at what level above the speed limit do you think action should be taken by the police.

Remember that the energy of a collision is a product of the square of the speed. So a vehicle travelling at 40 mph would have an impact energy of 1,600 units; almost double the 900 units of a vehicle travelling at 30 mph. That could be the difference between a broken leg and being killed.

And, frankly, I’d rather have ice cream on me.

What a great, well thought out, well phrased post. I wish I could think, talk and write that clearly and succinctly.