Friday Night Frights

[XLFD]

Last week, we looked at a move by the City of Ludington and its traffic engineer (LPD Chief Tim Kozal) to convert parallel parking space to six angled parking spaces in order to create more parking.  We cheekily noted that the existing parking allowed for six vehicles as well, and was a lot safer. 

In my comments before the city council and our article, it was also noted that the biggest impediment to making the intersection safe was the bass-ackward regulatory (stop) sign configuration existing now and in the past.  With few exceptions, none of which comes close to what happens at the T-intersection at the end of Ludington Avenue, the roadway ending should be the only one outfitted with a stop sign.  In this case, as noted repeatedly to the traffic engineer without response, there is no stop sign at the end of the avenue, only two placed where they aren't needed.  

Despite the City's depiction of six angled parking spaces along with a fair-sized buffer zone, they apparently read my critique and stretched out the angled parking so that seven spaces could be made, ergo creating one new parking space.  But that one parking space comes at the cost of a whole lot of safety, exacerbated greatly by the stop sign blunder that became evident to anyone paying attention after the far west end of Ludington was converted to the 'West End Slab'.

Last Saturday around 7 PM when the SS Badger was coming into port, I bicycled down to the beach playground and stood on a slide to watch the traffic on the new system where the angled parking was in force.  The new spaces were filled, at first with mostly cars, but by the time I left six of the seven spaces were filled with SUVs and trucks, totally blotting out visibility for not only those turning out of Stearns Outer Drive, but also for those heading west on Ludington Avenue without a stop sign.  

I literally saw dozens of near misses during my half hour of observation along with a host of other unsafe conditions prompted either by the new parking arrangement and/or the misplacements of stop signs.  Unfortunately, I had no device to record those problems.  So during the week, I offered the traffic engineer, the opportunity to watch this intersection during either Friday or Saturday of this weekend, or to set up a camera on the intersection.  

I figured if there was to be documentation of problems that arise at the intersection, it would be best to have the City own a recording of it, rather than do it myself and have them attack its authenticity.  Chief Kozal politely demurred, noting: 

"With any new traffic control order we monitor the traffic flow. We will be conducting this throughout the day, at dusk and at night over several days. My hope is to get a complete snapshot of the intersection. If the new angled parking is counterproductive to improved traffic flow, or safety concerns arise, we will of course revisit it."

The problem with this response is that the City has not already conducted this monitoring during the times the intersection's safety will be sorely tested, which is during the summer before the beach is littered with sand fences, which will likely happen this coming week.  Monitoring after this weekend, the last day of the regular tourist season, will either be inconclusive or find that there is no safety problem-- for the reason that few vehicles will be parking there, and there will not be enough traffic to have the conflict that arises between those coming out from the beach with those going west.

So rather than have this traffic 'engineer' monitor whenever he feels it might bolster his own dumb feat of engineering (and his ego), I went ahead with recording the interactions at that intersection last night with my camera.  It should be noted that the breakwater was closed last night due to waves, that it was mostly cloudy and cool, and traffic was far below what it was last Saturday, when it was a warm, sunny summer evening.  

Perched on top of the slide I had been on the Saturday before, I caught eleven instances where problems arrived-- I must admit I missed about that many other instances, which included 1) people signaling and turning right at Ludington Avenue's end, before seeing the 'do not enter' sign  2) people backing out of the angled parking, then doing a quick U-turn up Ludington Avenue and almost hitting those coming behind them  3) Drivers going over 20 mph into the small parking lot at the end of Ludington Avenue and having a difficult time turning around.  I was looking more for instances where a vehicle was arriving at the intersection from the east and from the north at the same time.

These photos are arranged chronologically, the first was taken roughly 45 minutes before the last one.  The one above had the blue SUV advance forth with the pic showing him coming to an abrupt stop after the truck finally came into view.  The truck would also stop at the end and waved him through even though the truck had no stop sign. 

The above had the grey SUV continue on with his turn, forcing the Ludington Avenue driver to stop in order to avoid a collision.  The grey SUV had edged up over the crosswalk before, seeing nothing he advanced in front of the other whose speed coming in indicated he wasn't planning on stopping until he had to.

The white SUV slowly advanced to where he is saw the other vehicle and waited patiently.  You will notice he was squarely straddling the often busy crosswalk while he waited.

Something I noticed happening more this night was several drivers like the red car above used the rightmost lane, marked for going straight across only, as the left turn lane.  It might be due to unfamiliarity, or it might have been due to their familiarity with the greater lack of visibility in the leftmost lane.  Either way, this car advanced up past the crosswalk until he saw the other car, and recognized the other didn't need to stop. 

You can barely make out the car coming up Ludington Avenue, the grey SUV surely didn't until the last moment, but he first stopped, then advanced, and the two did a little dance, before the grey SUV continued with a left turn up the avenue, while the other driver continued straight into the full mini-parking lot only to turn right thereafter.  

The next two were taken within 15 seconds of each other depicting a red car advancing and coming to an abrupt stop in the crosswalk when they finally notice that low-profile SUV coming up the avenue.  The red car's driver would let that driver pass.

But when he advances another car length, beyond the crosswalk, he once again sees another oncoming SUV.  The car would abruptly stop instants later while the SUV advanced and waved the car through.  The driver of the red car had a rough night at this intersection.

The dark blue car stopped but then proceeded when the jeep signaled a right turn, shortly after this pic was taken.  The jeep driver realized it's mistake but then allowed the white car to advance-- shortly after there was a very near miss between the dark blue car and the SUV behind the jeep.

The red SUV advanced past the crosswalk while the car in the last parking spot finished backing out.  Rather than wait for the car to continue through he advanced another length then halted shortly thereafter when the car continued his left turn.  Had he not halted there would have been a crash. 

What do you do if you're driving the SUV above and finally see that car approaching while you're getting up speed?  This one continued on while the car moved over to make a left turn, and had to stop to allow the SUV's passage.

The familiar crosswalk straddle made possible due to limited visibility, with the pickup advancing another lane ahead while the incoming SUV turned left after having to make sure that the truck wasn't advancing anymore.  

Again, it must be noted that the prior Saturday's traffic was about 50% heavier or more and the near misses I saw in 45 minutes yesterday, was more of what I saw in 10 minutes of viewing that Saturday.  City leaders ignore traffic engineering guiding principles and mandates, claim they are making new parking when their plans call for no new parking, and let this intersection be an accident in the making. 

Chief Kozal and I are both confident that his monitoring this situation in the off-season will show that this intersection is safe as beans.  But it is not reasonable to conduct any kind of traffic study when there isn't much traffic to speak of, that's why this intersection should have been studied long before putting in a new traffic hazard to aggravate the hazard of misplaced traffic controls long present.

[AQUAMAN]

Well, you are right again X, this has now become a dangerous intersection with the new parking situation. I myself, almost had a crash too, due to a van being parked there with a camper top that was impossible to see over or past, and the oncoming traffic can't see Stearns Drive either. Another stupid and inefficient use of taxpayer funds by City Council now.

[XLFD]

Even with a high profile truck, like you have, it's impossible to make out low profile vehicles, including many SUVs.  Visited the area tonight, traffic was a little more pronounced, took some more pictures from a different angle, noticed similar issues.

[Freedom Seeker]

Well when the first accident happens at that intersection maybe then the city council will reconsider, let's hope it's just a minor fenderbender without bodily injury. Why not put parallel parking back if they gained only one space?

[XLFD]

If a fender bender happens at that intersection, you won't hear about it from the city police or read about it in the COLDNews or MCP.  It would likely take a crash that required a call for the extrication unit (jaws of life) or one with a serious injury or death.  

The perfect storm for a serious accident like that would require someone coming up Ludington Avenue quickly and somebody pulling out of Stearns Outer Drive faster than usual.  If these events synchronized, not even a quick reaction would avert the collision.  Most drivers don't do either, but I seen both happen on both days, fortunately, not at the same time.  

[Willy]

I visited the area tonight also, 9-5-20, saw quite a few areas of concern. Your right X, this is a serious traffic problem, not only for cars but especially for pedestrians and cyclists. I don't know what the chief thinks he's doing but no offense to him, he hardly qualifies as a traffic engineer. If ordinary citizen like myself or you can see a problem by simply observing a traffic situation for a short period of time I wonder what a real traffic engineer would see. This is a dangerous intersection and must be corrected.

Stearns drive and Ludington Ave. Traffic traveling north to south

The first  photo  below shows the intersection with pedestrians and cyclists. The 2nd is the same intersection minutes later.

[XLFD]

You can tell these photos were taken at around the same time due to cloud formations in the background.  Thanks for taking some yourself, I think I must have arrived after you last evening.

The asinine solutions proposed by two of the Public Safety Committee members (Councilors Winczewski and Bourgette) of having moving stop signs and moving crosswalks wasn't refuted by any councilors present at the meeting (not even Councilor Serna who argued stridently against the move) and according to the committee meeting notes wasn't even part of the committee-level discussion.  If the new LPD chief had any knowledge of traffic engineering principles, he should have shot these ignorant 'solutions' down. 

Birds migrate, not stop signs and the crosswalks dependent on those stop signs.  Ironically, the way to make this crosswalk safer is to take away that stop sign and place it prominently at the end of Ludington Avenue.  Pedestrians and bicyclists crossing will then not have to worry about whether a car will stop or not, move partly across the crosswalk and stop, or have some other erratic behavior.