(This letter was sent to the Coalition For A Safer Manhasset (CSM) and to the Manhasset Press for publication.)

I know that one of the objectives of the Coalition for a Safer Manhasset is to reduce the prevalent U-Turn situation on Plandome Road. How can this best be achieved? (I reported many months ago in a Letter to the Editor that I was fined $150.)

Consider the problem. Plandome Road is a quite wide two lane road that makes U-turning tempting. U-turning is also tempting because it's not easy to reverse direction in town. Going down many of the narrow side streets to reverse direction often requires one to use a private driveway to effect a U-Turn. Is this legal? And going around a block (East side of Plandome Road) is not easy either especially for strangers and involves a distance of one-half mile as I measured.

The police often set a trap. This has to be quite lucrative for Nassau County coffers. But does it have the effect of reducing U-Turning? I doubt since it catches only a small percentage of offenders and most people remain (especially non-readers of the Manhasset Press) unaware of the offense which many of us have committed for decades with no interference by the police.

The Coalition for a Safer Manhasset should consider ways of getting the word out to the public more effectively rather than letting it merely become a lucrative source of income for Nassau County and aggravating unsuspecting otherwise considerate citizens. One gets the feeling that he has been ambushed.

One of the axioms of the consulting firm I worked with was: "If you don't have a better solution, keep your mouth shut." However in this case I am sure that I do have a better solution. Hang a banner across Plandome Road that proclaims, for example, "No U-Turns. Heavy Fines." This banner should be hung for several weeks and repeated every few months or so. It should be readable from both sides and weatherproof. It can be located where other banners (high school, SCA and others) are hung just south of George Street.

Theodore Theodorsen