My letter to the Editor of the Press Banner was published in last week's paper. No updates from our supervisor yet. I'm looking forward to seeing more improvements by Cal Trans, because the safety updates aren't yet complete in my opinion.
What do you think?
As a Boulder Creek resident who works downtown, I’ve been closely following the pedestrian safety issue ever since the tragic accident last February where a man was killed crossing the street in the crosswalk. The Press Banner ran a story on December 5th as if the issue is resolved – it is not. Case in point: the photo accompanying the story depicts the stop sign and crosswalk at Hwy 9 & 236. The photo below clearly documents 3 problems: 1) a tree obscures the stop sign 2) a car is parked in the “no parking” space by the crosswalk, and 3) the driver is already driving through the cross walk while the pedestrian is still crossing.
Since February of this year [2014] I’ve been communicating my concerns with Bruce McPherson’s office. I’ve told them of several incidents I witnessed, including my own experiences dodging cars when crossing the crosswalk at the intersection of Hwy 9 and Hwy 236. This summer, an RV nearly hit a man in a wheel chair. Many, many drivers still run right through this stop sign despite the new paint - they simply don’t see the stop sign!
There are new yellow “yield to pedestrian” signs at the crosswalk on Forest, but none yet at the intersection of 9 & 236. I believe what’s needed already exists in Ben Lomond: a flashing light in each direction alerting drivers to pedestrians crossing, larger stop signs facing 9 North & South traffic at 236, and most importantly, a vertical pedestrian crossing sign right in the middle of the crosswalk, just like the one at Lomond Street by the SLV Water District.
McPherson’s office asked for my patience in July, saying that it takes time to get signage through the Cal Trans process. I hope McPherson continues to push Cal Trans for more safety improvements at the intersection of 9 and 236, because it is still dangerous.
Here's the original photo the Press Banner published on 12/4/14 - photo credit to Lucjan Szewczyk
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