A reader sent us an email regarding drivers on Mary Gates Drive not stopping completely at the stop sign posing a significant hazard to children, the elderly, joggers and all those on foot as well as bicyclists.
The reader strongly urges everyone to come to a complete stop so that there is not potentially an unfortunate accident at that intersection.
Here is the email:
I live on NE 39th Street and everyday I witness cars driving right through the 4-way stop at NE 41st (Mary Gates Memorial Drive) and 48th Ave NE. This is a key corner for our neighborhood. Many children walk to school and cross at this intersection. Children and their families make their way to Laurehurst Park via this spot. Neighborhood runners, bikers and walkers cross at this intersection morning, noon and night.
Despite the obvious high traffic, each day I witness people run their cars and trucks through the stop signs at each corner. Many people will do a "rolling stop" but more often, I have seen drivers simply not stop at all. What is so distressing is that those who don't make the stop are our very own neighbors. Yes, there are contractors and vendors who also decide to ignore the signs, but I have seen neighbors I know run right through as if the signs are optional.
On more than one occasion, I have very politely asked neighbors to make a full stop. On at least two occasions I have seen parents with children in strollers almost hit by their very own neighbors who ignore the stops. One day I followed a neighbor, driving a van full of children, and asked her why she hadn't stopped. She explained that she didn't even realize that she hadn't stopped. Not only had she put her own car full of children in danger, she also was a danger to those neighbors making use of the crossing.
Will it take a child, runner, adult or elderly neighbor to be injured, or even worse, before this trend changes?
Please, I implore our neighbors and friends to heed - really heed - the stop signs throughout our beautiful neighborhood. But, especially as you take the hills on 41st.
5 comments:
I couldn't agree more and I even have something to add...
Crosswalks - drivers in our neighborhood seem to think that they only have to stop at a crosswalk when safety patrols are present both at Laurelhurst Elementary and at the Villa Academy. At other crosswalks around the park and schools drivers rarely stop. That is plainly dangerous for pedestrians, joggers and children using the crosswalks outside of school hours.
Our prior neighbor's daughters car was totaled at this intersection due to this exact problem - the person literally didn't even slow down!
Our prior neighbor's daughters car was totaled at this intersection due to this exact problem - the person literally didn't even slow down!
I thought your piece on driver behavior at the NE 41st /48NE intersection was good. I walk through that intersection every day on my morning walk and have noticed for years that most folks seldom come to a complete stop…..many don’t even slow down. So I watched with some interest this morning, after your blog, how things were going. Of seven cars I observed going through the intersection…………not one made a complete stop. Most drove through the intersection as if there were no stop sign. We have our work cut out for us.
The first line is confusing in terms of identifying the intersection involved. The interestion is not on Mary Gates Blvd, but is up the hill, several blocks away, if I am reading the address correctly.
I think it would be better to say a stop sign at the intersection of -----, which is on the SW corner of the Laurelhurst Playfield. I puzzled for a while trying to picture where on Mary Gates Drive these is such a stop sign - there is not one, I think. It's just that Mary Gates drive joins/becomes NE 41st, which continues for the equivalent of several blocks, up and on the other side of the hill - I think! Please correct me if I am wrong.
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