No Time Like Right the Heck Now

The sound of a car smashing into a telephone pole is really really loud.  I heard it the other day when I was sitting in my car in my driveway listening to the end of a segment on NPR.   Since the start of the year there have been at least three serious accidents along Haygs Ford and Old Gulph.  Cars treat this stretch of road like a highway - oblivious? to the fact that there are two schools along the route and countless children and adults walking along the side of the road. 

A group of concerned Lower Merion and Narberth residents have started a petition to ask Lower Merion Township and Lower Merion School District to explore and implement traffic calming measures in this area.  We are not content to wait until a pedestrian is injured or killed before doing something about it.  We are all too smart - and too afraid - to do that.  

There are a number of measures that could be implemented, though one in particular holds a lot of merit.  A road diet, effectively narrowing the wide roadway, would slow traffic to a reasonable speed. In turn it would allow room for a shoulder or sidewalk so that pedestrians could travel more safely.  
When we first moved into our house on Old Gulph, a driver was going so fast that they took out the mailbox in front of our house. I've seen telephone poles cracked, lawns torn up and have personally leapt out of the way of speeding cars while walking to pick my son up from school.  I have held my breath watching the same elderly folks travel the route on foot on a regular schedule - headed to Acme to shop. I have waved my arms at cars, I have screamed from the side of the road near the elementary school, "please slow down."  It's entirely ineffective.  We need concrete solutions.  Sorry, pun intended. 

Short of wrapping the students of Welsh Valley and Penn Valley and all of the residents and visitors in the area for sports, school and synagogue functions, in bubble wrap, a road diet seems like a good option.  Bubble wrap isn't the least bit green and it would be so hot in the summer.  Oh, and walking is green. Give us a road diet, make it safe to walk to school and shopping and the train and you can reduce the number of school buses needed for this area. It's a win for everyone.  

Nearly 200 caring individuals have already signed the petition to support traffic calming measures near our two schools.  If you haven't already signed, please do - and ask your friends to as well.  It's easily a matter of life and death.

https://www.change.org/petitions/lower-merion-township-and-lower-merion-school-district-make-pedestrian-safety-a-priority-calm-traffic-on-hagys-ford-rd