Mr. Mahatma: With frequent news of wannabe police officers, I wonder who was the genius who thought it would be a good idea to put blue headlights on vehicles. -- W.W.
Dear W: You refer to high-intensity discharge headlights, which come factory-equipped on some vehicles and can be installed through the aftermarket. They are said to produce a brighter light than halogen bulbs.
HID headlights are old news. The Mahatma had a 2003 Nissan with HID headlights that were bright and a little bit blue.
You are the first person to suggest to this column that HID headlights could be confused with the flashing blue lights of police cars. Anyone else have a similar thought?
Regarding wannabe police officers, blue lights may not be owned or operated except by police agencies. So says Arkansas Code Annotated 5-77-301, Blue Light Sales. Says the statute: "It shall be unlawful to sell or transfer a blue light to any person other than a certified law enforcement officer."
A sale or transfer must be reported to the Arkansas State Police. Know of an illegal sale or transfer? Call the Regulatory Services Division at (501) 618-8600.
Dear Mahatma: A bicyclist cussed me out as I passed him the other day in Burns Park, even though he was in a bike lane and I was fully within my adjacent lane. Obviously the 3-foot passing run applies to open or unmarked roadways, but what about distinct lanes on a shared roadway? -- Quandary
Dear Quandary: We have reviewed our favorite source of all things wise and safe -- the Arkansas Driver License Study Guide, published by the state police. It has two full pages titled "Sharing the Road with Bicycles." Lot of stuff in there, but nothing to our eye that specifically addresses your question.
But this applies to every encounter with a bicyclist: "Allow plenty of room when passing a bicycle rider."
That doesn't say except when the dude is in a clearly marked bike lane. The 3-foot rule -- drivers must give bicyclists a margin of 3 feet whenever passing -- applies in all cases.
Dear Mahatma: I recently drove from Little Rock to Nashville on Interstate 40 and noticed a difference in cable median barriers. In Arkansas, they are built with a continuous concrete slab. In Tennessee, each post had its own individual concrete footing. Does the extra concrete make barriers in Arkansas stronger? -- Jess
Dear Jess: We have the skinny from the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.
Each post in Arkansas is like those in Tennessee. They have individual concrete footings. Concrete is then placed between the posts to prevent grass growing adjacent to the posts. It would be a nightmare, we are told, to have to weed-eat around each of those posts.
P.S. Cable median barriers have been put in place on 583 miles of interstate highway in Arkansas, with 41 more miles in progress.
Mahatma@arkansasonline.com
Metro on 09/03/2016