[RP TownTalk] Children in streets - Ravenswood Road area

Thu May 12 18:30:45 UTC 2016

I sent this before but I received an auto message that the moderator had to
review it first.  Looks like it never made it to the group.

As much as the kids and parents should be aware of traffic we should also
focus more of our attention on the growing number of cars abusing our
neighborhood as a cut through. We are seeing more and more traffic
especially on Ravenswood Rd.  Cars that cut through don’t stop at the stop
sign on Ravenswood and 48th where all the kids seem to be playing.  I think
many are people are using our area to circumvent traffic on 410 and cutting
through Ravenswood to get to their destination outside of our
neighborhood.  With Whole Foods coming the potential cut through traffic
will increase dramatically.  Could we do something to make it much less
attractive to vehicles trying to save a few minutes?  The kids should be
able to ride their bikes and play on our neighborhood streets without
worry.  Hyattsville and University Park have some interesting ways of
managing their neighborhood traffic.  They have more *one way streets*, *speed
bumps, concrete blockades* and *traffic patterns* that make it annoying to
try weaving through their neighborhoods to get around busier roads.

Here are a few things I think Riverdale could do to make it safer for the
children on our streets.

1.       *Letters to the neighbors. *Not everyone is on this list serv. We
should hand deliver a letter to all the houses in the area with requests to
inform their children to be more careful as well as neighborhood drivers to
keep their eyes open. I would volunteer to do this for all houses starting
on Lafayette and heading east to the park.

2.       *More speed bumps.* People race through the neighborhood at high
speeds especially at night. More speed bumps would slow them down.  Some
kind of enforcement would also slow them down.

3.       *Children playing signs.* Something that could help keep people
alert.

4.       *Stopping people from using our area as a cut through.* How can we
make it less desirable to use our area to avoid 410 traffic or as a quick
way to get to the new Whole Foods? Maybe something like the “do not enter”
signs on Queensbury road in Hyattsville that do not apply to residents but
people just passing through at certain times of the day.  A few more one
way streets and police to enforce it.  Imagine if Ravenswood road was a one
way street that you could only travel east.  Cars would be much less likely
to want to go through the area since it makes it that much harder to get to
their destination, and possibly deter traffic from cutting through the
neighborhood overall.

Since I am not a traffic specialist I am only making suggestions based on
what I see in the area that seems to work.  I would love to see the city
make a stronger effort to consider what Wholefoods could be doing to our
area in terms of traffic and our children.  How can we make it less
attractive to use our area as a cut through?  How can we inform the parents
and children of the neighborhood to be more careful as we work on making
the town safer for them to play in?

It would be great if someone could add something like this to the agenda to
the Public Safety Committee Meeting on Thursday, May 12, 2016, at 6:30
p.m. in the Conference Room of Town Hall (5008 Queensbury Road). Can anyone
come?  Did they ever send out an agenda?

Thanks!

Adrian

Ravenswood Rd

> On Fri, May 6, 2016 at 8:27 AM, S Collins <ugglywump at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> There'd been 2 posts last months about kids playing in the street on
>> Ravenswood Road; just a note to say I've noticed a bunch of kids playing in
>> the streets as well, don't know if it's the same group or not (about 8-10
>> elementary school-age kids).  I don't drive and when I get a cab to come
>> home from the store, several times the cab has had to slow down to a stop
>> in the 4700/4800 block of Ravenswood, as this group of children is out in
>> the street on bikes or playing.  They make no move to get out of the way of
>> the cab.  Yesterday, I left my apt. and saw this same bunch of kids walking
>> from Ravenswood up Lafayette, in the street w/ their bikes and scooters,
>> just goofing around.  They were almost under the EW Highway overpass and a
>> pickup truck came around the corner at speed and had to swerve way to the
>> left to avoid hitting the children.  I yelled at them to get out of the
>> street or they could get hurt, but either their English isn't that good or
>> they were just ignoring me, as they made no effort to get out of the way.
>> I know kids need a place to play, I know children tend to be careless, but
>> if this keeps up, sooner or later one or more of these children is going to
>> get hit by a car, or cause an accident if a vehicle has to swerve around
>> them and ends up hitting another vehicle.  Can't say what should or could
>> be done, I know the police cannot 'babysit' a particular area all the time.
>> Perhaps the school could send out a flyer, telling parents to watch over
>> their children, or maybe handouts at the Farmers' Market or the "Night Out
>> Against Crime" event?  Esp. with summer vacation coming up, children will
>> be out and about more than ever.  At any rate, drivers in the area, please,
>> please be careful.
>>
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>
>
> --
> Adrian
>

-- 
Adrian
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