Note: This intersection was identified as a "hot spot" by a Westfield Town Council Citizen's Traffic Safety Advisory Committee.
Westfield's expert traffic safety engineer Gordon Meth recommended a pedestrian activated traffic light at this intersection in his July 26, 2005 report to the Town.
Since the Spring of 2010, when all the lines, signs, flashing lights, and roadway markings were installed with the infamous pedestrian activated HAWK light, approximately 113 feet south of the intersection, there have been 10 accidents involving vehicles being "rear ended" as they wait or attempt to make a left turn onto Clover St. from Central Ave.
In the 8 years prior to the reconfiguration of Central Ave. and the installation of the HAWK light with all the "Times Square" flashing lights warning motorists of the pedestrian crossing at the cul-de-sac'd intersection of Central & Cambridge, (where the Hawk light was installed) there were 7 accidents involving vehicles attempting to make a left turn onto Clover St.
The number of accidents at this location has steadily increased while Mayor Skibitsky and council members ignored their own expert's recommendations for a resolution to the issue identified in the expert's 2005 report citing "Left Turns" onto Clover St. as a safety issue.
The two page accident report shows that the accident involved a vehicle waiting to make a left turn onto Clover St from Central Ave. The drivers D.O.B.'s and numerical addresses were redacted by TFoTM.
Skibitsky has heard it from neighbors, friends, and family that the pedestrian light in its current location and not where the experts recommended it to be located was a mistake and his ego is over inflated to the point where he will never correct the mistake.
ReplyDeleteIf an expert tells the town there is a problem at The intersection of Central Avenue and Clover Street, what possessed Mayor Skibitsky to ignore the expert? Just does not make sense. I am beginning to believe more and more that this was a political decision more than it was a safety measure.
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