AAA Carolinas issues a list of "red lights & green lights"

AAA Carolinas issued its own list of darts and laurels for 2009. It calls them green lights and red lights. Green is good. Red is bad.

Here’s what AAA liked and did not like in 2009.

Red Light – to Johnston County where a former assistant district attorney, a deputy clerk and four private attorneys, were indicted in March for obstruction of justice. Investigators say they tampered with court documents to secure illegal dismissals for drunken drivers.

Green light – To the legislature for allowing school systems to install cameras on school buses to catch drivers who pass a stopped school bus. It is a class I misdemeanor to pass a stopped bus, the harshest moving violation in the state, which can result in jail time based upon prior convictions. It counts as five points on a driver’s license.

Red light – to NC Board of Transportation which agreed to spend $270 million in highway funding in Fayetteville, weeks before then DOT Secretary Lyndo Tippet left office in late 2008. Fayetteville is Tippet’s hometown and the reasons for the decision were sharply questioned by several other cities.

Green light – to Governor Beverly Purdue, who used this and other examples, to reorganize the NC Board of Transportation so that clearly defined criteria, not political influence, would be used in the future to make highway funding decisions.

Red light – to Atlantic Beach Mayor Retha Pierce who was indicted in October for hit-and-run/leaving the scene of an accident on U.S. 17. She was charged in a separate, earlier incident with driving under the influence.

Green Light – to the legislature for passing the anti-texting law while driving for all motorists. The law went into effect Dec. 1 and the fine is $100.

Green Light – to Gov. Perdue for her efforts to get funding for the Yadkin River Bridge on I-85, which has been among the state’s worst substandard bridge for years and carries 59,000 vehicles a day.

Red light – to Lincoln County Sheriff Tim Daughtery who was indicted in October for obstruction of justice relating to his chief deputy allegedly helping a Denver doctor avoid a driving while intoxicated charge.

Green light – to Wake County for using a 2007 Corvette Z06 confiscated from a cocaine dealer to catch speeders. Proceeds from the eventual sale of the car will be given to the county’s school system.

Red light – to the Highway patrol, who waited four days before issuing a speeding ticket to Rep. Cary Allred, who was clocked going 102 mph in a 65 mph zone on Interstate 40. Allred said he was on his way to a legislative session.

Green light – to a pair of University of Arkansas-Little Rock and St. Louis Federal Reserve economists who showed when the economy is suffering, police write more speeding tickets in North Carolina. When times were good in 2000, tickets statewide totaled 645,000. In 2002, recovering from 9/11, the number jumped to 768,000. Police said the study was flawed.

Red light – to the highway patrol for failing to keep an accurate record of former Governor Mike Easley’s trips while providing executive security for him during his two-terms as governor. Governor Perdue reassigned five former members of the security detail in June.

Green light - the patrol now has a protocol for keeping detailed records of all travels by the state’s governor, a move endorsed by now Governor Purdue.