As for the new no-driving zone, my initial reaction was opposition to it. I enjoy a drive on the beach once in a while, especially when I have some heavy thinking to do. On a number of occasions I have started at Granada Ave. and rolled along the sands all the way to Dunlawton. Realizing that I will no longer be able to do this brought forth a twinge of anticipated loss.

On further contemplation, however, I decided that it is a good plan. That stretch of the beach, roughly from the Ocean Deck to the Bandshell, has always been my favorite. That's where the action is; that's where people go not to just lie in the sun, but to have fun. I find the prospect of removing traffic from this area quite appealing.

What I like most about it is that it represents a compromise between anti- and pro- beach driving factions. It gives us, as well as our guests, the option of driving on the beach or enjoying a popular section of it with no traffic. It allows us to have our cake and eat it, too.

Don't get me wrong, though. As I mentioned before, I enjoy a drive on the beach. Put me firmly on the "pro" side of the beach driving issue.

Driving on Daytona Beach has a long, storied history. No dissertation on the development of the automobile would be complete if it didn't mention our fair shoreline. Beach driving has become part of our heritage, a defining feature of our metropolitan subculture. Banning driving on Daytona Beach would be tantamount to banning cheese in Wisconsin or buckeye trees in Ohio.

An argument against cars on the beach is that they are noisy and dirty. If this is how you feel, my advice is to go somewhere else. There are plenty of beaches where cars are not allowed; if that is your preference, then by all means that is where you should go. Don't worry about us, we'll get along fine without you.

A certain Orlando radio talk show host routinely uses this logic to defend nude beaches, yet rails against our beach driving privileges. I cannot understand why he doesn't make the connection and acknowledge our right to have this option, even if it's not one he particularly likes.

Another argument against beach driving is that it is harmful to endangered sea turtles. This is more of a misunderstanding than an argument. The driving restrictions currently enforced ensure that beach driving has virtually no impact on the turtle population. When you read about turtles being crushed by cars, you'll find that this happens on A1A, not on the beach, and is caused by bright city lights, not beach driving.

A third argument is that the oil leaking from the cars driving on the beach washes into and pollutes the ocean. Water quality measurements have failed to back up this hypothesis, however. That's because we're talking about a very small amount of oil in a very large ocean with an enormous capacity to cleanse itself. There are natural cracks and fissures in the floor of the Gulf of Mexico that leak more oil into the gulf in a day than washes off Daytona Beach in a year.

What's the solution, anyway? Take these same cars leaking the same oil off the beach and park them in big sandy lots near the ocean, where the next rain can wash all the oil back into the sea, or, worse yet, leach it down through the soil and into our precious Floridan aquifer?

I'm as much of a tree-hugger as the next guy. I would rather not see even a drop of oil end up in our oceans. But as ecological disasters go, I wouldn't put Daytona Beach driving on a par with, say, major theme parks paving over hundreds of acres of Florida wildlands. But then, we all have our crosses to bear in the name of tourism.