Dear Mahatma: The other day an elderly man in a motorized wheelchair pulled up behind me at an intersection. He was so close to my pickup I could not see him in my mirrors. If I had backed up for some reason, I would have run him over. What are the rules regarding motorized wheelchairs on our streets and highways? -- Sand Man
Dear Sandy: The rules are incorporated in Arkansas Code Annotated 27-37-101. Credit to Bill Sadler, a spokesman for the Arkansas State Police, for the reminder.
The code says it's a misdemeanor to drive or move on any city street, state highway or U.S. highway any vehicle that is not properly equipped. You know, with stuff like headlights and taillights and brakes. A motorized wheelchair falls far short of having the mandatory equipment necessary to operate on a road of any kind.
Now, what to do? Nothing says a responsible citizen can't call his local police department out of concern for that confused guy in the wheelchair.
Dear Mahatma: I recently moved here from another state where it was illegal to drive with a broken windshield. I can't help but notice that Arkansas has a high number of cracked windshields versus the other states where I travel. Are there laws against this in Arkansas? Are they enforced? -- Newly Arrived Yankee
Dear Newly: Welcome to the Natural State, the Bear State, the Land of Opportunity and whatever else it might be called. Your question was concomitant with the one above. That is, the answer is the same, according to Bill Sadler of the Arkansas State Police.
To paraphrase, thou shalt not drive a vehicle "which is in such unsafe condition." Someone with a cracked windshield, Sadler said, would be cited based on the law enforcement officer's determination that the vehicle was unsafe.
Determination is another word for discretion.
Hello: Who has the right of way at the on-ramp to U.S. 67/167 southbound by Target in North Little Rock? I will be heading north when someone will pull out from the stop sign in the Target parking lot and they will almost hit me even though I'm already on the main thoroughfare at the yield sign. I thought a yield sign would have the right of way. Please correct me if I'm wrong. -- Susan
Dear Susan: Danny Straessle of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department answers this way:
The yield sign is about 400 feet south of the driveway into the shopping center and it's there to require northbound motorists on the frontage road to yield to southbound vehicles fixing to enter the U.S. 67/167 on-ramp.
The stop sign means just what it says -- stop and yield the right of way to all vehicles on the frontage road.
Vanity plate seen on a Volvo: GO USA. Is this a great country, or what? Volvos are made in Sweden. Volvo is owned by Geely Automobile Holdings of China. Volvo is putting the finishing touches on a $500 million factory in South Carolina, its first in the U.S.
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Metro on 07/15/2017