To the Editor:
On the morning of September 1, I suffered a very near-fatal accident while entering the Great Road from Ridgeview Road. I want to alert my fellow citizens to the extraordinary danger they face at this intersection — a danger bound to recur.
When you leave Ridgeview Road to make a left turn into the Great Road, heading into town, it is impossible to see which cars are approaching from the right on the Great Road. There is a rise in the Great Road to the right that hides the movement of vehicles coming into town.
All you can do is wait until no car is visible on the Great Road, looking right, and make your turn into the right lane as rapidly as possible, heading into town.
Last week, seeing no car coming to my right on the Great Road (nor to my left), I made my turn into the right lane as rapidly as possible, as always. I whipped my car into the right lane, but another car coming over the rise to the right at great speed managed to arrive ahead of me in the direction of town by inches. Unbelievably, at first invisible, it beat my turn by inches, by seconds! If the driver had followed one’s customary instinct and, seeing me making my turn, had braked, he would have collided with me and killed me instantly.
I think the terrible danger of this intersection has been brought to the attention of the town before. I have asked our engineering department for their swiftest possible attention to this matter, requiring, ideally, on the model of the intersection of Stuart Road and the Great Road, a traffic light — or at the very least a visible warning, such as flashing lights — on the Great Road, warning of an impending turn-in from Ridgeview Road.
I sent a similar letter on September 1 to James Purcell, assistant municipal engineer. He responded promptly and considerately, saying he would take up the matter at the next internal Traffic Safety Committee meeting. While we await the results of this meeting, I would like to beg our citizens not to venture onto the Great Road from Ridgeview Road. It is impossible to do so without risking your life and that of the driver who might just be casually speeding a little while coming, invisibly, over the rise.