A shuttle van driver in the Lancaster area sent Lancaster County Lookout the following safety concern, and with snow season coming, it seemed like a good time to address it.
It has been the law since Jan. 29, 2007, that you must use your headlights when you have your windshield wipers on, but it doesn't seem to be enforced.
The law, which took effect early last year, requires that you turn on your "head lamps and other lamps and illuminating devices ... any time when the vehicle's windshield wipers are in continuous or intermittent use."
Its goal, according to its sponsor, Sen. John Wozniak, D-Cambria County, is not to have police hand out $100 tickets, but to avoid accidents by making vehicles more visible during rain, sleet and snow.
"My intent isn't to kick people in the butt with a fine," Wozniak told Lancaster County Lookout. "My interest is to get their lights on, not so you can see other people, but so they can see you. Safety first."
So, how many people are getting kicked in the butt with fines for failing to turn on their headlights when their wipers are going here in Lancaster County?
Just about one a month, according to numbers from the state Supreme Court's Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, which tracks traffic citations everywhere in the Keystone State except Philadelphia.
Since the headlights/windshield wipers law went into effect early last year through Nov. 17 of this year, a span of about 21!-W months, state and municipal police in Lancaster County have issued a total of 24 citations.
That compares with 98, or almost four times as many, in York County, and 54 in Chester County.
Why so few here?
According to Sgt. Tom Rudzinski, spokesman for Manheim Township police, one of five departments in Lancaster County that hadn't cited anyone for the offense as of mid-November, safety hasn't demanded it.
"We don't have any accidents involving people with their windshield wipers on and their headlights off," he said. "We're not seeing a major issue."
And, he said, officers "are telling me that they aren't seeing many violations. When they do, they generally flash their lights at them to turn them on or give them a warning. We don't see a big problem here with it."
Other police departments that issued no citations for the offense here include East Hempfield Township, East Cocalico Township (which also patrols West Cocalico Township, Adamstown and Denver Borough), Northwest Regional (which patrols Mount Joy and West Donegal townships) and Southern Regional (which serves Conestoga and Pequea townships).
And the four citations written by state police in Lancaster County were all on the Pennsylvania Turnpike; the Lancaster and Ephrata barracks issued none.
In an e-mail to Lancaster County Lookout, Sam Gatchell, chief of Northwest Regional, pointed out that there "are literally hundreds of laws on the books that officers can enforce.
"I encourage our officers to use discretion in enforcing laws. Our main goal is to achieve compliance. If that can be done without a citation, I would expect and encourage our officers to exercise this discretion. ...
"I do encourage our officers to take action when they feel someone is knowingly, recklessly or blatantly violating a law. ... This particular statute is probably violated more times by people who are not aware of the law than by people who are."
So, what has the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation done to publicize the law?
"No money was spent on a media campaign — no money in the budget to do that," PennDOT spokeswoman Fritzi Schreffler said in an e-mail. The measure including the new law included no money for publicity.
But PennDOT has promoted awareness of it in news releases and, during bad weather, posts reminders on those variable electronic signs you see overhead on highways, Schreffler said. And the next driver's manual will include it as well, she said.
CITATION STATS, HERE AND NEAR
Citations issued across Pennsylvania, minus Philadelphia, for failing to turn on headlights while windshield wipers are operating, from Jan. 29 of last year through Nov. 17 of this year
LANCASTER COUNTY
Lancaster City 7
Warwick Twp. 6
W. Hempfield Twp. 3
E. Lampeter Twp. 1
Manor Twp. 1
New Holland 1
Susq. Reg. 1
State police 4
County total: 24
NEARBY COUNTIES
York 98
Cumberland 64
Chester 54
Dauphin 50
Berks 37
Lebanon 25
State total: 870
Source: Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts
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Noland and Jane Wenger, the Lititz couple disputing nearly $10,000 in gas bills from UGI Utilities, were not shut off for Thanksgiving.
The day before Thanksgiving, UGI sent a team to the Wenger home to see if it could find any reason the Wengers' gas usage more than quadrupled last December, and continued to be way above previous winters for January, February and March.
That team found none of the usual suspect conditions — an overly hot house or an obvious hot-water leak among them — for such high usage, UGI communications manager Joe Swope said, but UGI did believe further investigation was warranted.
A better-equipped company employee returned on Tuesday. He found dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide in the basement, red-tagged the Wengers' boiler and shut it down, Swope said. UGI now believes the Wengers' inefficient boiler is the problem that caused their bills to spike, he said.
Keith Wenger, Jane and Noland's son who is now speaking for his parents in their dispute with the company, said today that he does not agree with UGI's stance on the boiler and that his parents will continue to pursue their formal complaint over the bills with the Public Utility Commission.