 Shopping for new ideas, for maintenance, engineering, communication, equipment, administration, training, safety. If you are, then welcome to the Idea Store. A store whose stock and trade is imagination. This piece of jewelry carries important, even life-saving information. But at the same time, presents a significant safety hazard. Loosely worn jewelry can get caught on, under, and between things. And it is an ideal conductor of electricity. Question, how do you keep important medical information readily available and not create a safety problem? Answer, the heart hat. The much-maligned, horrible heart hat. This decal on the heart hat says there is life-saving information inside. And this decal contains the same information as the personal metal or jewelry. Whether it deals with approved medicines or unwanted procedures, it is all there and readily available if the need should arise. The heart hat medical decal idea communicates information, providing you cooperate by filling out the form and wearing the hat. If you have a medical condition, that, in an emergency, others should know about, fill out the information label. Put it in your heart hat. Put the information inside decal on the outside of your heart hat. This Idea Store item comes to you courtesy of Ron Jones, who designed the interior label. You can write to him at Ron Jones, Roadway Program Manager, PennDOT Engineering District 4-0, O'Neill Highway, Dunmore, Pennsylvania, 18512. And the company who kindly provided the exterior information inside decal. The Seaton Nameplate Company, Post Office Box, HW-1331, New Haven, Connecticut, 06505. You can call them at 1-800-243-6124. Winter weather presents the need to try to cooperate with Mother Nature and everyone else out there on the road. It can require all the operating skills the experienced driver possesses and overwhelm the inexperienced. So the Montana Department of Transportation is telling drivers what they, as a department, are doing out on the winter roads and how those activities can affect the driving public. The program is aptly named Avoid Getting Plowed on Montana's Highways. While this brochure contains useful tips on winter encounters with plows, the Montana DOT doesn't rely on it alone. They have instituted a maintenance awareness program, MAP for short, to really get the message out. Using volunteers from the department and in cooperation with Montana's Office of Public Instruction, MAP has already reached over 5,000 people with special emphasis on young drivers. And expenses have been minimal. For example, 10,000 copies of the brochure were printed for about $500. The volunteers talk about winter driving safety and have even covered part of the windshield to dramatize areas they can't always see clearly when operating. The volunteers provide an opportunity for their audience to look at, learn about, and sit in a plow truck. Then there is a teacher-led discussion using a guide supplied by MAP. And finally, an award to the best student. Even in a crowd, you can pick out the winner. If you want to know more, contact the Montana Department of Transportation. Attention, Dan Williams, MAP coordinator, 2701 Prospect Avenue, Helena, Montana, 59620-9726, or call area code 406-444-7604. So far we have looked at ideas that deal with safety and communications. Here's an item that covers both. Typical garage operations. Carrying for the needs of your vehicles and equipment. And also a place where accidents can and do happen. The fuel truck and the welder. Two items that definitely do not belong together. PennDOT's Cumberland County Maintenance Division has installed special lights in the garage. Turned on when the fuel truck has to be in the garage. To say no welding or torching. For this very useful idea, our thanks to the troubleshooters, the quality circle group in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. Our next idea deals with winter and especially the mounting of the wing plow. Using a scrap truck wheel, bar stock and swivel casters, Paul Miller and Lenny Clark of Hume, New York have created a snow wing cart. The cart allows one person to mount or dismount the wing and to do it without a strain on the back. The Pennsylvania LTAP offices have a set of detailed instructions on making and using the cart. If you want a set, contact the Pennsylvania Local Roads Program, 68 Craigs Building, Middletown, Pennsylvania, 1-7-0-5-7, or call area code 717-948-6522. Until recently, the project manager for the Idea Store series was Kathy Swatek. Kathy has taken a new job, but we did want to say thank you, Kathy, for all of your help. And a special thank you to WTXF TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and KDKA TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the use of their video footage. Obviously, an Idea Store needs ideas. Here's how to get your idea on the program. Tell us who you are. Better yet, send us a picture. Give us a good description of what your idea is. Show us the where at the locale of the idea is important. Why was the idea done? For reasons of safety, cost benefits, etc. How do you do it? Show us step by step, provide plans, pictures, whatever you think we might need to understand what it is you want us to understand. Send your idea to your Technology Transfer Center for evaluation. Thanks for shopping at the Idea Store. Until next time, remember an idea never shared is an idea never appreciated.