Tips for staying safe on way to car, on the road | Street Scene
Outrageous! The only description befitting the vicious attack of one of the Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare staff walking to work from the designated TMH parking lot. Seriously injured, we as a community, pray for her full and quick recovery.
The proposed solution is only to increase patrols of the parking lots? Staff are walking to and from vehicle parking during rain, freezing cold and hours of darkness where they are most vulnerable.
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Patrols won’t discourage predatory criminals who understand the opportunity of attack. Criminals know how to work in packs, lay in wait, how to disarm their prey by politely asking — what time it is — or any number of deceitful ways to befriend and relax a target.
I am extremely blessed to have parented many children, girls, and boys to adulthood. I now share my knowledge with readers of Street Scene as to what I have learned of the criminal mind while serving in law enforcement in a large metropolitan area.
Each and every one of my family understands: Never make eye contact with someone you don’t know who speaks to you. Look away, do not respond, continue walking and never walk anywhere alone, especially at night. This element of crime isn’t going away, indeed it is only increasing. The solution is to provide door to door armed security shuttle service for all personnel.
Thomasville Road dangers
Q. Suzan and John relay their direct knowledge of how the intersection of Bascom Drive and Thomasville Road is becoming more dangerous by the day. Barrington residents coming out of their development and Kingsmill residents trying to cross over may take 10 minutes or longer. Suzan knows Thomasville Road traffic has increased and will continue to increase with future home development in the area. Suzan says it’s like trying to cross I-10 and can attest many drivers are doing well over the 45 mile limit. Help us get a traffic signal placed at Thomasville Road and Bascom Drive.
A. Suzan and John we must go directly to the decision makers at the Florida Department of Transportation who work with Tallahassee traffic engineers on this type of project request. FDOT is responsible for many things, not the least of which is issuing a permit to proceed with a signalization project after a request has been submitted by a municipality.
I don’t like going into established warrants such as number of crashes, injuries, deaths etc. which must be met before a traffic signal may be considered at a stop sign controlled intersection experiencing high peak hours congestion and non-peak times of fast moving traffic. Strict adherence to warrants by policy makers and traffic engineers dismiss input of astute resident drivers asking for help knowing they are forced to place themselves and family in harm's way each time they must traverse the problem intersection.
Having that in mind, and without going into detail it is my unpleasant duty to let everyone know the process for signalizing an intersection can be timely. However, getting a local newspaper involved carries some weight in the ability to notify those responsible of a potential transportation hazard.
Such is the case with the intersection of Thomasville Road and Bascom Drive. Street Scene gives confirmation to citizens' concern for safety as they traverse this intersection and requests those involved in transportation safety look into our findings and move to install a full phase traffic signal system at Thomasville Road and Bascom Drive.
Miccosukee Road signal
Q. Charles would like to address the signal timing for west to south Miccosukee Road at Blair Stone Road. In the morning between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. there is very little eastbound traffic, yet the light remains green for what seems an extended time. The two left turn lanes for westbound Miccosukee Road to turn onto southbound Blair Stone Road are unable to proceed even when there is no eastbound traffic on Miccosukee at all. Charles asks if it would be possible to perhaps set the timing mechanism for a shorter duration eastbound Miccosukee, particularly in the morning.
A. Thanks Charles, when I received your email last November, I sent a note to our traffic engineers asking them to look into adding additional green signal time for the west to south turning movement. You and others asking about this should have already realized some improvement. Thanks again, please keep me posted.
Oak tree blocks view on Sixth Avenue
Q. Jim wants us to know the large oak tree blocking the line of sight for drivers on Terrace Street is on the northwest corner of Sixth Avenue. Not Seventh Avenue.
A. I stand corrected. Thank you Jim this was my error not Colleen. She had it right.
Philip Stuart is a retired Florida State Trooper, Traffic Operations Projects Engineer and Forensics Expert Witness. Write to crashsites@embarqmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Stay safe on way to car, at intersections and on the road
