by Kevin Burton
Like most people, my wife Jeannette took driver’s education in high school. But it’s the driving advice of her father that never leaves her mind.
He counselled her never to let the gas tank go below half filled. So when she says we need gas, I know we’re not in danger of coasting to a stop in the next block or next mile or ten miles.
This is wise counsel indeed, and even more appreciated after reading some weird traffic laws, compiled by writer Tim Ott on interestingfacts.com. He writes of a place where it is not just inconvenient, but illegal to run out of gas.
“Running out of gas is a bummer anywhere, but the city of Youngstown, Ohio, adds a legal burden to those already dealing with the indignity of blocking traffic,” Ott writes. “Per section 331.44 of the city ordinances, “No person shall operate or permit to be operated any vehicle within the congested district bounded by Chestnut, Walnut, Boardman and Commerce Streets without sufficient fuel to drive the vehicle from the district.”
“There are offenses of increasing severity levied on those who apparently didn’t learn their lesson the first time around,” Ott writes.
And that’s not the half of it. If you know anything about Youngstown, you don’t want to run out of gas anywhere in that city.
The website crimegrade.org gives Youngstown an “F” rating for safety. “Youngstown is in the 6th percentile for safety, meaning 94 percent of cities are safer and 6 percent of cities are more dangerous,” the website writes.
This next obscure traffic law could get us in trouble during Christmas season, that is if we spent Christmas season in Colorado.
We love the Christmas lights. We don’t run up our electric bill by putting them on our house, trees or driveway in December. But how grateful we are for those who do!
At least once every December we take a leisurely drive in our town and look at all the colorful and creative displays. Sometimes we go to neighboring towns to do the same. But we don’t keep track of which streets we’ve been on, which apparently could get us in trouble in some places.
“Feel like showing off your wheels and checking out the hotties as you breeze through the streets of Westminster, Colorado? Just make sure you don’t retrace your tracks after the sun goes down,” Ott writes. “As stated in ordinance 10-1-18, ‘It shall be unlawful for any person to operate a motor vehicle, or as owner of a motor vehicle to permit its operation, past a traffic control point three times in the same direction within any three-hour period between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m.”
Those are prime Christmas lights time, so we’ll just stay close to home and stay out of trouble.
Regular Page 7 readers know that I am legally blind and so do not operate a motor vehicle. Nevertheless as co-pilot I provide a valuable service to Jeannette, offering timely and helpful driving tips, which she appreciates greatly.
I also give advice to the drivers around us, though I know they can’t hear me. When I do this, Jeannette almost always says “I’m so glad you don’t drive.”
I am sure she is saying this because if I were driving, my cogent advice would be lost to history.
Jeannette also thinks I am patience-impaired to a greater degree than I am visually-impaired. So she is glad I am not the honker of the car horn.
This keeps us on the straight and narrow, regarding another of Ott’s traffic laws.
“Wondering what is taking the waitress so long to hand over your sandwich? If it’s a few hours after normal dinner hours in Little Rock, Arkansas, you better not lean on the horn to find out,” Ott writes.
“As explained in city codes section 18.54, ‘No person shall sound the horn on a vehicle at any place where cold drinks or sandwiches are served after 9:00 p.m.”
Friday, another joyride through the traffic lawbook with the Interesting Facts website and co-pilot Kev.
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