Tucson Region

It's still legal to ride in pickup bed

Jerald King raises a question that may be on the minds of a lot of people just now, a few days after 12-year-old Jimmy Lucio was seriously injured when he fell out of the back of a pickup and was run over by a trailer it was towing. King asks: "If Arizona has a seat belt law, how can it be that there is no law that prohibits anyone from riding in the back of a pickup truck?" The answer: Because the state Senate failed to pass a bill sent there by members of the House last session that would have prohibited children from riding in the back of a pickup. That's consistent with recent history, too. Bills to ban riding in the back of a pickup have been introduced in just about every legislative session in recent years, but none has been enacted - despite near-universal agreement among safety advocates that it's unsafe for children, or anyone, to ride in the bed of a pickup. Lawmakers from mostly rural areas have opposed the law on grounds that some of their constituents have no other means of transportation except a pickup. State law prohibits driving a truck on a public road with unsecured cargo in the open bed. But kids? That's OK, it seems. That doesn't mean we parents can't enact our own personal law and keep our kids safe. Vail "No Outlet" sign to go

Ellie Reichlin, who lives in Vail, wonders why there's a sign at the eastern end of Mary Ann Cleveland Way that says "No Outlet." Mary Ann Cleveland Way is the new east-west road that the city completed in May to connect South Houghton Road and Colossal Cave Road in Vail. "It would be very helpful to let motorists know there's an alternative route to Interstate 10 via Houghton … enabling them to avoid the traffic buildup between the middle school in Vail and I-10," she said. Road Runner forwarded Reichlin's comments to the county Transportation Department, which dispatched a worker to check it out. Spokeswoman Carol Anton said department staff will take down the old sign in the next couple of weeks. Catalina Highway work nearly completed

Good news for folks headed up to Mount Lemmon: Work is almost done on a county project to widen a stretch of the Catalina Highway from Tanque Verde Road to Houghton Road, at the foot of the mountain. Crews were scheduled to complete paving parts of the highway and North Harrison Road during the weekend, weather permitting - the project was delayed by a week because of rain. Follow-up work, including landscaping and work on the shoulders - where two 6-foot-wide bike lanes are being built - will continue during the next couple of weeks, Anton said. The contractor on the $4.5 million project completed work about two months ahead of schedule, she said. The project, which began in November, includes widening the highway to three lanes, including a center left-turn lane.