Rothacker Reviews

Heather Derusha: Turn Signals Save Lives

If you drive on the Tampa Bay area streets, you don't need surveys, statistics or neon signs to alert you to the dangers of failing to use your car's turn signals. You need only drive one minute on one road to see what's happening. The key is to keep your eyes open. And then let the danger cut in front of the others standing in line in your mind. You know the other things you're thinking about while driving, things that are not as important as other people's lives and your own life.

What will it take to get people to use their turn signals and drive safely on our roads? My guess is increased awareness and more of us talking about the dangerous driving habits that have become our norm. 

Heather Derusha talks about the dangers of failure to use turn signals. I first learned of Heather in a 2006 article written by Rick Barry: Failing to Signal - It's Not Just Annoying. As this was a particular pet peeve of mine, I wrote about it here. Heather recently reached out to Friend me on Facebook and I noticed that she has not let her cause drop by the wayside. Heather promotes the Signal America campaign on her Facebook page. Check out Signal America's You Tube page too!

Tommy Duncan, author of one of the Tampa Bay's premier blogs Sticks of Fire, writes about the dangers on our roadways, drivers and traffic under Sticks of Fire's Transportation category. Ironically (not), one of Tommy's last posts is titled Tampa Bay Dangerous for Pedestrians. He cites the nauseating position that Tampa ranks among major cities when it comes to our propensity to run over and cream our pedestrians.

I have half a notion to invoke public citizen's eminent domain (think: citizen's arrest) on the owners of the tbt* and mandate that the Juice's talented editor Joshua Gillin cover the antics of Tampa Bay drivers. 

Although I allowed my brain to scatter a bit more than usual today, Heather's message is loud, clear and direct: Use your turn signals and save lives!

Teen Driving in Tampa Bay

Do you have a teenager who drives? Do you know a teenager who drives? Do you have friends or relatives who have teenagers who drive? Are you concerned about present day teenage driving habits?

Yes Dave, but what can I do?

Check out the resources at Impact Teen Drivers!



If you care, please forward this Web site on!

Using Turn Signals in Tampa Bay

I have come to accept drivers exceeding the speed limit by thirty and forty miles per hour.  I have come to accept drivers tailgating.  I have come to accept the cell-phone-talking-driver-from Hades.  I have come to accept drivers running red lights.  Matter of fact, on this last one I believe these drivers think that the law allows one mulligan, one driver gets to run a red light at each light change.  I have come to accept drivers darting in and out of traffic.  Although this group mystifies me, especially on the interstates...when traffic is bumper to bumper.  But the one thing that really annoys me is when drivers fail to use their turn signals.

In the process of coming to accept the driving eventualities of Tampa Bay Drivers I began tuning into to Rick Barry of TBO.com.  Rick writes a column titled Behind The Wheel.  This is most excellent dialog on the traffic scenes in the Tampa Bay area!  Rick wrote a piece the other day on Failing to Signal... and it rekindled my feelings on the turn signal issue.  Of course if I want to rekindle feelings on any sort of driving issues, I've only to remember the last time I was out on the roads. 

One of the interesting notes that Rick brings up is about Heather Derusha.  Heather is a professional driver who is sick and tired of people who fail to use turn signals.  She has attempted to bring an awareness to this type of brain dead idiot driver to no avail.  Check out the article.

Friends, I have no connections in high places, no where with all to mount a media blitz calling attention to those who hold no regard for others on the road, but I can ask you to do one thing today.  Can you please use your turn signals?

Tampa Bay Traffic: Faceless Spirits

The people who drive their missiles of death in and out of traffic, cutting others off, speeding and failing to use turn signals, have no face.  They sit as a black cloud of vapor in their vehicles of destruction.  Their spirits are cold and unattached. 

Do you know why they have no face?  Because it is impossible to see your grandma, brother, sister or husband deploying an automatic firearm into living and breathing people .  But they do.  Every time they get behind the wheel and drive without regard for others.  Eventually their bullets will tear into someone's flesh and end a life - or more.

The faceless spirits who unleash terror on the roads around Tampa Bay are people you know.  In a near miraculous transformation we recognize their face, the one that appears on the Internet, the TV or in the newspaper following one of their senseless crimes.  "That's Uncle Bob.  He appears a little sheepish, but that's Uncle Bob.   How in the world could he have  murdered that woman and her children?"

Do the faceless spirits leave home each day with the intent to murder someone?  Probably not.  Please don't let the difference between intent and the act of killing someone cloud your observation however.  People are dying  on streets around Tampa Bay everyday and our friends and relatives are killing them.

Stop for a moment and think about your closest friend or relative who drives a vehicle.  Would you rather see their smiling face at your backyard cookout?  Or would you rather see their wide-eyed and scared face on the six o'clock news?  I am relatively certain you wouldn't want to see the faces of the young couple they just killed. 

The punishment and consequences handed down for vehicular crimes are not deterring the ordinary citizen-turned-criminal.  It's up to you and I to inititate effort.  It is time we put an end to letting our loved ones drive the Tampa Bay roadways devoid of human spirit and face.  Express concern for their driving habits.  Ask if they use turn signals, if they speed or if they dart in and out of traffic.  And, before you let them leave for the day...

"Honey, pick up some milk after work and please don't kill anyone with your car today."

For some interesting commentary on the driving habits of Tampa Bay and Hillsborough County motorists, please visit Tommy Duncan's post  at Sticks of Fire.  Be sure to click on the links within his articles for continued coverage.