Is it news when a state trooper turns out to be a really nice guy? I don't know. But Bob Inge of Crewe, Va., was really, really grateful when North Carolina Trooper Skye Stone stopped to help Inge and his mother after their SUV broke down on U.S. 64 in Martin County (see today's Road Worrier column).

The story drew a range of comments - mostly cheerful, some grumpy (one person harrumphed, no kidding:  "our taxes pay for him to drive to the store for them?").

And it attracted this email from Joseph Herrin:

"If you want a good trooper story, you should contact Bryan Phillips who is with the SHP in Wilmington. I heard he delivered a baby during a traffic stop on Saturday morning!"

Turns out Herrin's tip was nearly 100 percent correct. ... [MORE]

Airlines at Raleigh-Durham International Airport have restored some service to northeastern airports that are digging out of the Christmas weekend snowfall, but local travelers found at least 10 RDU flights canceled this morning.

“Things look like they’re getting back on track,” RDU spokeswoman Mindy Hamlin said. “We’re still seeing flights canceled to and from New York and Boston, but we’re also seeing some that are arriving and departing for those cities now.”

DOT said most roads have been cleared of snow, and the Highway Patrol received only 63 calls for help across the state between midnight and noon today. That’s after two hectic days, with nearly 2,500 calls Sunday and 770 calls Monday.

Business was returning to normal today for car rental agencies ... [MORE]

The Highway Patrol’s crackdown-of-the-week focuses on drivers who speed through highway work zones.

That’s a good idea, I guess. But North Carolina doesn’t have “work zones” any more – or any kind of a cogent message about road work safety.

Who’s in charge here? The Barrel Monster?

The state Department of Transportation scaled back its road work safety approach a few years ago.

DOT stopped using “work zone” signs because other states don’t use that label, according to Kevin Lacy, the state traffic engineer. It stopped posting year-round warnings about a $250 ticket for work-zone speeding.

But nobody bothered to update ..

* The “work zone” speeding law (see paragraph (j2))
* DOT’s “Work Zone Safety” website
* And this week’s recycled work-zone-speeding campaign rhetoric

... to match the reality.

So if you get a ticket this week for speeding in a non-existent work zone, I’d like to hear from you.

Witnesses say Erin Brett Lindsay-Calkins was talking on her mobile phone when she crashed through a crossing gate and stopped in the path of a speeding Amtrak train that struck her car, killing her and her 5-year-old son.

The Highway Patrol today released its report of the Dec. 22 crash at the Mount Willing Road rail crossing near Efland in Orange County. It was the Triangle's second fatal rail crossing crash this month.

Details in Thursday's N&O.

OK, law enforcement agencies look smart when they work together to promote public safety. But they look dumb when they can't even agree on a single slogan and clear, coordinated public info about something as basic as a statewide speed-trap campaign.

The Highway Patrol (part of the Dept. of Crime Control and Public Safety) outhustled the Governor's Highway Safety Program (part of NCDOT) this morning when it released numbers of speeding and other tickets issued during its recent two-week statewide "Operation Slow Down" program. Troopers wrote tickets for 46,913 violations, including 21,305 for speeding.

Minutes later, the Governor's Highway Safety Program issued more comprehensive info. While the Highway Patrol only mentioned its own ticket-count, the GHSP reported on the efforts of city cops, county deputies and state troopers statewide. Along with its own pet slogan, "No Need 2 Speed," the GHSP graciously referred to the Highway Patrol and its program as well.

Here are the larger stats from GHSP: During the two weeks that ended Nov. 29, all the various state and local cops cited 31,760 motorists for speeding. In all, they wrote citations for 83,118 criminal and traffic violations.

Along the way, they grabbed 98 stolen cars and -- good grief! -- "615 fugitives from justice."

Wake was the top county for tickets: 7,307 in all, including ... [MORE]

Triangle drivers noticed on Wednesday that I-40 in Wake and Durham counties was teeming with cops. State troopers, county deputies and local police pointed their speed guns at a lot of drivers, and they wrote a ream of tickets.

This uncharacteristic spurt of enforcement marked the start of a two-week statewide anti-speeding campaign. It involves two agencies and two slogans: Operation Slow Down (Highway Patrol) and No Need 2 Speed (Governor's Highway Safety Program).

They handed out 169 speeding tickets in just two hours. One guy clocked at 90mph was cited for reckless driving and child endangerment, for having an unrestrained child in the front seat.

It's about time, some people say. We need to crack down on speeders.

What do you say? Have you been ticketed for speeding? Is law enforcement too lax on speeders? Too harsh?

In the past, police rarely ticketed speeders unless they exceeded the posted limit by at least 10mph. Is that still true?

Let me hear from you: bruce.siceloff@newsobserver.com. Don't forget your daytime contact info.

The State Board of Elections may get to the bottom of the State Highway Patrol's missing records into former Gov. Mike Easley's travels before an independent inquiry releases its findings.

Patrol Capt. Alan Melvin is listed among the witnesses subpoenaed to testify this week. He ran Easley's security detail and in early 2006, told a patrol secretary to download copies of the then governor's air travels to a disk, give it to Melvin and then delete the files to free up space on the computer. The files for 2005 still have not been found.

N.C. Crime Control Secretary Reuben Young announced an independent inquiry into the missing files after an internal patrol investigation raised more questions than it answered.

That independent inquiry began in late August with two former state judges, Willis Whichard and Ralph Walker, and former U.S. Sen. Robert Morgan conducting the probe. But as of today — two months later — the probe has yet to report its work.

Today, patrol spokesman Capt. Everett Clendenin said in a statement that the records are still missing and the FBI, which took control of a patrol computer used by the detail, has not reported finding any information that would solve the mystery.

Football fans leaving Saturday's NCSU game with Murray State should watch out for officers who will be pointing to unfamiliar exit routes from some Carter-Finley Stadium parking lots.

The new egress routes should speed the flow and get fans home sooner, NCSU said today. The plan is intended to send all exiting traffic away from the stadium, and to avoid sending any lanes back into other exiting traffic.

Cars leaving Gate B will turn south along Youth Center Road, then right onto Hillsborough Street.

Cardinal Gibbons traffic will exit from the rear of the lot onto Trinity Road only, and not onto Edwards Mill Road. The NCSU veterinary college parking lot will empty onto Hillsborough instead of Blue Ridge Road.

West Chase traffic will be reduced from three to two lanes before it turns left onto Blue Ridge.

Read the detailed plan for all parking lots here.

Documents:

Tomorrow, the forecasters say, we'll move like tigers on vaseline. Leftovers from today's snow will freeze when temps drop below 20 tonight, returning by daybreak as nasty black ice.

“When there’s a wet snow you can get some traction, but tomorrow we expect it to be frozen solid," says Capt. Everett Clendenin of the State Highway Patrol.

"You just cannot get traction in these types of conditions. So the best advice we can give is don’t drive unless you absolutely have to."

The forecast as of 4pm Tuesday: Overnight low 17, high Wednesday 35. There'll be nothing melting before midday. 

NCDOT road crews will be out between 6 and 7 a.m. with their salt trucks and plows. DOT had about 450 people clearing major roads in its seven-county Division Five area Monday night and today.