[RP TownTalk] RR crossing safety improvements

[Robert Oppenheim]

One problem with the RR crossing is poor lighting. There are
no street lamps on the corner of Lafayette and Queensbury
and much of the RR crossing is dark too. This is very dangerous
to pedestrians and confusing to drivers.

Just last December (2008), an early morning female jogger was
hit by a car at this corner. Her ankle was broken in several
places and her convalescence has been slow and painful.

Two years ago the council approved adding two street lights to
the S.W. corner of Lafayette and Queensbury. One lamp was to
shine onto the Queensbury/RR crossing area - the other was to
shine onto Lafayette. These lamps have not been installed.
I don’t know why.

Perhaps these street lamps would have enabled the driver to see
the early morning jogger and prevented that accident.

Also, there is no crosswalk painted there. In fact, there are
no crosswalks anywhere that can get a pedestrian from the RR
crossing to say, the bus stop in front of the old Credit Union
or to Dumm’s Corner. This should be corrected immediately –
and the lamps should be installed too.

Poor visibility makes it easier for drivers to mistakenly turn
onto the tracks. They think they are turning onto Lafayette, but
they turn onto the tracks instead, get stuck, and get hit by a train.
The police dept tells me this happens a lot. (Bruce has a great story
about such an accident).

Do we have the foresight to act now to improve our RR crossing
safety? Can we be prodded into action by these recent non-lethal
accidents or do we have to wait until something really horrible
happens?