River to Sea TPO

January Newsletter

January is Move Over Month

Florida’s Move Over Law states that motorists MUST move over a lane when it is safe to do so or slow down for vehicles stopped on the roadside that are helping motorists or providing services. This includes Road Rangers, law enforcement, emergency vehicles, sanitation, and utility service vehicles, tow trucks or wreckers, and maintenance or construction vehicles with displayed warning lights without advanced signs or channelizing devices. If you cannot move over - or when you are on a two-lane road - slow to a speed that is 20 mph less than the posted speed limit. When the posted speed is 20 mph or less, slow down to 5 mph.

Violating the Move Over Law will result in a fine, fees, and points on your driving record.

Preliminarily in 2021, there were 191 crashes and more than 14,000 citations issued for motorists who failed to move over in Florida.

For more information visit: Move over FL: FLHSMV

Auto Tune Up Time

January is a great time to have your car checked out and tuned up. Some symptoms that your car might need a tune-up include:

a drop in gas mileage
a noticeable loss of power
a "rough" engine or one that stalls at a stop
engine "knocking" or continuing to run after the ignition is off
a "check engine" or "service engine" light staying on after the initial start.

The first place to start is with a basic inspection you can do yourself:

Check the oil and top it off if necessary
Inspect the tires to make sure they are properly inflated and don't show wear
Check other fluid levels including windshield wiper fluid, transmission fluid, brake fluid and radiator and power steering fluids
Inspect the battery for corrosion and other signs of wear
Test your brakes to ensure they work properly
Check to make sure all of your lights work correctly

Once you complete these checks, it is a good idea to have your mechanic do a tune up on your vehicle; this includes a routine oil change according to your car's manufacturing recommendations, rotating your tires to even out wear, and replacing the air filter and spark plugs as needed.

By doing these things on a regular basis, you can increase the life and safety of your car.

For more information on keeping your car running its best check out: Car Tune Up Information

Aging Road Users

As we grow older, the skills we need for driving safely steadily decline. These changes begin at around age 55 and include a gradual decrease in our ability to process information, to remember, and to make judgments in traffic situations, such as determining the necessary distance and approach of oncoming traffic.

Vision is one of the most significant changes we experience as we age. The older we get, the more light we need to be able to see things along roadways; we also need to be closer to signs and signals to see them. In addition, we need more time to recover from the glare of headlights at night. In Florida, drivers who are 80 years or older that renew their drivers licenses are required to pass a vision test. To learn more about Drivers License renewal requirements for older drivers visit: DMV: Older Drivers

Cognition is another thing that is affected as we age. Cognition includes perception, attention, learning, memory, thought, visual processing and reading and problem solving; driving requires the coordination of many of these skills.

Dementia is a serious disease that affects many of the abilities needed for driving including perception, visual processing, attention, making appropriate decisions, and acting correctly in difficult traffic situations. Individuals in the early stage of dementia may be able to drive under normal circumstances, but could have difficulty with changing circumstances, and may become lost. For resources on dementia and driving visit: Alzheimer's Association: Dementia & Driving

A great resource for aging road users and their loved ones is the Safe Mobility for Life Coalition. Safe Mobility for Life Coalition’s mission is to implement a strategic plan to increase the safety, access, and mobility for aging road users and eliminate fatalities and reduce serious injuries. Their website can be found by visiting: Safe Mobility for Life

Driving with Vision Disorders

Upcoming TPO Activities

Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP):

The UPWP describes the planning tasks to be undertaken by the TPO during the next two upcoming fiscal years and, in some cases, tracks the continuation of projects carried over from previous years. The UPWP contains the associated costs and agency involvement required for successfully completing each task.

The TPO will be processing a UPWP amendment as well as developing our next FY 2022/23 and 2023/24 UPWP. A UPWP Subcommittee was formed in November and will meet in January to begin the process of selecting tasks that the TPO staff will undertake in the upcoming fiscal years.

Transportation Safety Targets:

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued final rules on the transportation performance measures required for the State Departments of Transportation and Transportation Planning Organizations (M/TPOs). The final rule requires targets to be set for the following five safety performance measures:

Number of Fatalities
Rate of Fatalities
Number of Serious Injuries
Rate of Serious Injuries
Number of Non-Motorized Fatalities and Serious Injuries

The TPO board and committees will be discussing updates to these safety performance measures as well as the Transit Safety Targets at their January meetings.

Additional information on agendas for TPO committee and board meetings is available at: River to Sea TPO

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