Some members of the community have encouraged our team to explore ways we might help slow down traffic along Bell Street.
What's your experience? Do you feel the average speed of cars along Bell has increased over the past few years? If so, do you perceive that increased speed as a barrier to safe pedestrian travel?
If necessary, how might we slow drivers down?
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I own a home at 364 Bell Street, and have two young sons (sixth-graders), one of whom was hit by a car several weeks ago while crossing the street to his bus stop (at Carriage Hill). I did not witness the accident, but suspect that blame was to be shared between an inattentive driver and my inattentive son.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, I sit on my front porch regularly, and have had the opportunity to observe Bell Street traffic during many different times of day and different days of the week. My son's experience notwithstanding, there is no question in my mind that drivers routinely speed up and down Bell, posing a hazard to both foot and bicycle traffic in the neighborhood.
As I live within sight of the intersection of Bell and Walters/Hemlock, I also feel that this intersection is dangerous, possibly warranting the installation of a streetlight to help regulate traffic. Coordinating such a light with the one at Cleveland Street may be the only viable option to slowing drivers down.
If it is determined that a light at Walters would congest traffic in the neighborhood to an unreasonable degree (which I grant might well be the case), then the only other practical alternative I can think of is a markedly-increased police presence with rigidly enforced speed limits. I would point to the Chagrin Road/Chagrin River Road area, which is well known as a "speed trap," where all local drivers who know the area are aware of the perils of speeding through that hill. Routine, strict enforcement of the speed limits along Bell Street could serve a similar purpose.
I would add that car traffic is not the only culprit. I routinely see motorcycles (and once, a home-made motorized scooter that can't possibly have the necessary licensure to travel on paved city streets) speeding recklessly on Bell. (I am not at all anti-motorcycle, just anti-SPEEDING motorcycle.)
As an addendum, I was reminded that the existing "light" at Cleveland is not a streetlight at all, but a stop sign with a flashing red light. I think this should be replaced with a full street light.
ReplyDeleteDon B,
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to thank you for your eloquent and insightful post.
I believe your proposed solutions warrant full consideration, and I assure you the Chagrin Falls Safe Routes to School team will seriously consider them. We're in the process of collecting parent survey data over these next few weeks, after which we'll begin analyzing proposed solutions, within the context of a formal engineering study.
In the interim, I'm wondering if you might consider submitting your blog post as a Letter to the Editor of the Chagrin Valley Times. (The Times' readership is obviously more extensive than is the readership of our blog, and I'd really like your ideas to be read by a wider audience.)
--Lorrie DiGiampietro
(Chagrin Falls Safe Routes to School team member)
Hi Lorrie. You probably know my wife Allison, we live at 319 Bell Street. (guy with the green slow turtle.) Moving in here, I soon realized the speed of the cars on Bell Street is ridiculous. I was reported for "jumping in the road" by some idiot that was doing 35mph inches from my son and I were trying to cross the street. Officers immediately responded and told me to stop trying to slow cars down and "let us do our job." (they never came back.)
ReplyDeleteThe big issue I think with Bell is how narrow it is and how drivers know that speeding tickets will not happen in Chagrin Falls. I hand wrote a letter to the police chief last month suggesting many things. I was kind enough to get a following up phone call from an officer and ONE speed trap on my driveway. Thats it. Ugh.
- Signed: Nervous father of 3 kids who cross Bell St. for school/bus.