We can do better

To the Editor:

As residents at the intersection of Yale and Cornell avenues, we read with interest about discussions of accidents and safety measures at the recent Public Safety Committee meeting. Recitations of accidents “proportional to traffic volume,” hedges trimmed within allowable limits, and signage about cars ahead not stopping seemed, if we may, out of proportion to our experiences and observations of what happens at this intersection.

In the two-and-a-half years we have lived at this intersection, we have seen seven accidents take place. And we’re not home all the time, so the full count could be higher. In four of these accidents, cars have ended up in our front lawn, resulting in plants destroyed, tire tracks in our grass, and glass, plastic, and rubber debris to pick up for weeks to follow. We’ve also advised our kids not to linger unaware for too long in the front corner of the yard for fear of being in just the wrong place at just the wrong time, when one of these accidents happens again.

So far, so annoying. But not awful. Especially compared to the driver whose car flipped twice after trying to move southbound on Cornell through a line of waiting cars westbound on Yale, one rainy, dim rush hour, only to get T-boned by an eastbound car. Or the older couple from New Jersey, northbound on Cornell, whose car spun 360-plus degrees after being clipped in the rear by a speeding eastbound car on Yale, leaving them dazed and bleeding and hospital-bound. I could go on. Suffice to say, even worse is almost sure to happen at some point.

Throwing up our hands in the face of “people being distracted and aggressive and angry” seems like, in essence, blaming people for getting into accidents. That’s how the article seemed to represent the committee’s view. Is that really our final position as a town? And I do doubt that “aggression and anger” reliably explain anything since, I can only assume, we have no real data on the state of mind people bring to their attempts to navigate the intersection of Yale and Cornell.

Some suggestions, in descending order of apparent efficacy: a stop sign for cars on Yale Avenue, per precedents set at Kenyon Avenue and Park Avenue intersections; signage further back on Cornell each way amplifying messages about cross traffic not stopping and the upcoming stop ahead; improving visibility, especially for north-bound Cornell drivers looking west towards Chester Road. I (have to) believe we can do better with this problem.

Eric Iversen
Swarthmore