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Jun 2007
An old friend and a driving tip
Posted by Scott Spielman
at 3:23 PM | Comments
On lunch today, I ran into an old friend.
Back in the day I was just breaking into the news business at a paper that no longer publishes. Leonard Schemanske was a police officer in Canton Township, just taking on the role of media relations officer.
He’s been retired for about a year now, but he still runs his Advanced Driving Academy, which is a few doors down from the Secretary of State office in Canton Township. There’s where I was heading, to fix an expired (again) license plate tab.
We got to talking about he helped a former reserve police officer (and driving instructor at ADA), Richard LeBlanc, get some legislation approved that tweaks—or at least solidifies—a driving law. LeBlanc, now a state representative serving Westland, had some legislation approved recently that makes it illegal to switch lanes near a traffic control device. Schemanske testified at the hearing.
Originally the legislation had made it illegal to change lanes during intersections, but since the law classifies exits and entrances to strip malls and store parking lots as intersections, it had to be modified.
I read about the legislation when it was approved, but paid no attention to it because I thought it was already a law.
From his viewpoint near Ford Road, Schemanske had plenty of opportunity to see another traffic law broken often: improper lane use.
This is something that happens all the time; I do it at least once a day. It’s where you try to take a left turn onto a busy road in stages, bolting first into the left turn lane and then stomping on the gas when a traffic window opens. It’s technically illegal so remember that if you’re one of the many that does it and the few that gets cited for it.
There’s probably a lesson about patience in there somewhere, but I don’t have time to learn it, either…
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