Dear Mahatma: I was on Interstate 30 the other day and got behind some chump in a pickup. He was hauling a trailer, and sand was blowing out that thing all over my nice car. Isn't that illegal? -- Two out of Three
Dear Three: Ron Burks is chief of the Highway Police, an agency of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department. He knows all about this sort of thing.
This blowing-sand business likely violates Arkansas Code 27-35-110, whose title pretty much says it all: "Spilling loads on highways prohibited -- Covers required for loads of sand, gravel, and rock -- Exceptions."
No vehicle may be moved on any highway unless it's built or loaded to prevent anything from dropping, sifting, leaking "or otherwise escaping therefrom."
We especially love the "therefrom" part.
Regarding the exceptions, if the vehicle or trailer were manufactured before Sept. 30, 2001, there must be 6 inches of freeboard around the perimeter of the load -- free space between the top of the truck bed and where the load is touching it.
What to do next time this happens? Call the Highway Police at (501) 569-2421, for the sheer fun of it.
Dear Mahatma: I was pulled over for flashing my lights to warn other motorists of police radar. I have asked various law enforcement agencies if by doing this I violate some traffic law and may be given a citation. -- Arnold
Dear Arnold: You asked various law enforcement people but do not reveal the answer. The Mahatma suspects the answers were all different shades of obfuscation.
We have grappled with this problem previously and now summarize our findings.
First, if there is a statute that specifically prohibits this practice, no one has yet found it.
Second, a law enforcement officer who sees headlights being flashed for no apparent reason may feel compelled to stop the driver on the assumption there's a problem or an emergency. Why else would a driver be flashing his lights? Perhaps this is what happened to you, Arnold.
Third, if the flasher were to impair the vision of an oncoming driver, there could indeed be a ticket written for failure to dim high beams, careless driving or reckless driving. Even that all-purpose citation, careless and prohibited driving.
After which a driver could explain it to a judge.
Has anyone out there been ticketed under such circumstances? Please make contact.
The Mahatma was driving aimlessly near the parking lot that was once Ray Winder Field, and twice drove through the new roundabout on Zoo Drive.
In this space recently was a question about the roundabout. What kind of statuary would be put there? The city responded to the question with obfuscation, an excellent word we are happy to use twice in the same column.
Please remember that drivers always yield to traffic already in the circle.
Vanity plate seen on the Interstate 30 bridge: TEXANS. We are not making this up. It was an Arkansas plate, by the way. Oh, the humanity.
Mahatma@arkansasonline.com
Metro on 02/11/2017