THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 6, 1995 TAG: 9501050168
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: The Road Warrior
LENGTH: Long : 123 lines
Amid all the partying and carrying on this past week, Road, like most everyone, made a few resolutions for the New Year. The first is to get a new driver's license.
Yes, Road has carried the same well-worn, laundered license for five years. Finally, the time has come for Road to surrender the plastic, mold-green license that features a slightly younger Road, mouth set in a grimace and both eyes closed. Road hopes that instant cameras have come a long, long way in five years.
The first thing Road's going to do once that shiny new license is in hand is flip it over and ask someone to witness Road signing the consent to be an organ donor on the back.
A lot of people assume that signing a donor card means that rescue personnel will leave you for dead in the road just so they can have your organs. Well, Road's here to say, it just ain't so.
Everyone gets the same medical treatment, donor or no donor.
Anyway, the donor registration form on a driver's license is one way to reach the masses who don't mind passing on valuable organs so that someone can see again, get a new heart etc.
The National Kidney Foundation of Virginia is hosting a program called the ``Kidney Car Program,'' where folks can donate old cars, working or non-working, to the organization so that they can salvage them for parts or resell them to benefit the organization and the thousands and thousands of folks waiting for a new kidney.
The foundation will pick up the car, for free, from your home or service station. Some of the vehicles will be sold at auction or sold for parts. All unusable parts will be recycled. The foundation's program has received about 850 cars in the past two years.
Donations are 100 percent tax deductible and Road's sure your neighbors are sick of looking at that piece of rusting steel anyway. Why not put it to good use and donate it to a life-saving organization?
For a free tow or to donate your vehicle, call 1-800-246-6040 for pickup within 48 hours.
SNARLS OF THE WEEK
The following people called Road's INFOLINE number with their complaints.
Kevin Peppe, Church Point. I think there should be a traffic signal at the intersection of First Court Road and Greenwell, the two roads that now form the entrance to my community. As this development grows so, too, does the risk of accident at this crossroads. What's more, the Bayside Recreation Center is at that intersection, drawing a large number of pedestrians, both young and old from Church Point across an unregulated First Court. This problem is a catastrophe waiting to happen.
RW: Engineers say there's not nearly enough traffic to meet the criteria for a signal in this area even with the new rec center. However, that doesn't mean with future development the area won't ever meet the warrant.
David Davis, Upton Estates. I'm calling about the traffic signal at Dam Neck Road and Upton Drive. The engineering department did something to that light. It used to be you could drive up to it and with no traffic coming down Dam Neck, it would change to green going from Upton onto Dam Neck. Now, you've got to sit for three minutes. They've messed with it. It wasn't broken. Now they've fixed it, and now they've broken it.
RW: Depending on time of day, when you turn left, the light should feed you right through Dam Neck. If you're one of the first people waiting on Upton to turn, you're likely only waiting 15 to 30 seconds for a green. The change is a result of the CMAQ timing project. Previously, the light was basically on stand-by, meaning that it would change whenever someone pulled up, rather than being timed to give everyone a certain amount of time.
Engineers haven't gotten any other complaints on the light's new timing and it's set that way to move more of the main street traffic. If there is a problem, Road has no doubt the calls will come flooding in.
Walt Humell, no address given. The traffic light at Laskin Road and Pacific Avenue needs to be timed a little more. If you try walking across there you get about halfway across and the light turns and, at the same time, people are making a right turn there. See what you can do about that there, Road.
RW: Plans were in the works to install a ``yield to pedestrian'' sign at this corner so maybe those folks taking a right on red would realize that they must also yield to pedestrians.
As for the time it takes to cross. The pedestrian signal first flashes a walk sign, then a blinking walk sign and then finally a red walk sign.
Once the signal starts blinking, it basically means that you should be completing the second half of your crossing. It's a warning within a warning, I guess you could say. Anyway, the sign was ordered but Road's not sure if it's actually been erected yet. Anyone see it?
Wayne Feduchak, no address given. I'm calling in reference to the road widening going on as part of the Rudee Inlet Bridge work. If you're heading south toward the bridge on Pacific Avenue, when you get to 7th Street, there's a right turn lane but not at the entrance to the apartments at 6 1/2 Street. There's already been one accident that I know of. I'd just like to know what's going on. It's a hazard as it is.
RW: Road's thinking you may have north and south mixed up. But, anyway, here's how engineers explained it: Apparently, contractors striped the right lane so that they could park their vehicles roadside from about 5th Street north to 7th Street. Because the area was striped, most people assumed it was a right-turn lane, however that's not the case. The striping was temporary and the lane was never an ``official'' right-turn lane.
There are no plans to include right-turn lanes heading north on Pacific. However, left-turn lanes are planned for southbound traffic at 5th, 6th, 7th and 9th streets.
The whole plans calls for two northbound lanes and two southbound lanes. Hope Road answered your question.
Morris Jennings, no address given. I've been wondering when they're going to fix Indian River Road at the Military Highway intersection. They went in and scraped all the asphalt off and it's rough as a cob, make that two cobs. When are they going to finish?
RW: Well, paving is waiting for a water utility project to be finished. Last Road saw the water project hadn't even been started, so it could mean several more months with an unlined intersection heading west on Indian River toward Norfolk.
To all those interested in reaching Stan Ginish, the man who started Citizens Opposed to School Buses in Residential Areas (COBRA). Road gave an incorrect phone number for Ginish. The correct number is 427-2892. 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