CINCINNATI — Constant speeding down her street has always been a concern for B.K. Gardner of Northside, but after a recent crash, she's had enough.
"It's scary honestly. It's really scary," she said.
Gardner's apartment is located on the corner of Glen Parker Avenue and Thompson Heights Avenue.
The building is situated in a hill; her top floor unit is parallel to the street.
Gardner loves her apartment and the area around it, noting her favorite swing and path she walks her dogs down.
But what the residential road sits on is anything but idyllic for Gardner. She said what should be quiet traffic feels more like cars speeding down a racetrack.
"They fly," she said. "They just fly back and forth. People have been hit on the sidewalk before [because] of people swerving.”
The corner where Glen Parker Avenue meets Thompson Heights Avenue is a three-way intersection. But for three flows of traffic, there's only one stop sign.
Cars traveling down Thompson Heights must yield as both-way traffic down Glen Parker moves freely.
Gardner feels that setup has allowed for cars to constantly speed down the road, creating dangerous situations for other drivers and pedestrians.
“I have to be careful because sometimes you don’t turn your head to look the other way and these cars just [fly by].”
Gardner has always been frustrated by it and wants two more stop signs placed at the intersection.
She said she feels doing so would offer a simple solution to a persistent problem.
A problem that recently hit too close to home for Gardner.
A little more than a month ago, an SUV speeding down Glen Parker Avenue through the intersection left the roadway and plummeted down the hill, taking a nosedive into the bottom corner of Gardner's building — exactly two units below hers.
"It felt like a semi-earthquake," she said "It did; it shook the building.”
Despite the steep fall, the driver of the SUV was able to walk away.
Gardner filmed the crash on her phone and shared the video on social media.
"We need stop signs to slow them down," Gardner said. "Even if they run them, they're there. Most 90% of people will stop."
Gardner has reached out to Cincinnati's Department of Transportation and Engineering several times asking for new safety measures in the intersection.
Her calls have not gone unnoticed.
"We are definitely hearing from the community about speeding a pedestrian safety right now, not just in Northside but across the city," said Mel McVay, senior transportation planner for DOTE.
McVay said the corner of Glen Parker and Thompson Heights is, among other areas, high up on her department's radar.
DOTE's Traffic Section currently has a team out at the corner observing traffic patterns to determine whether more stop signs are necessary or beneficial.
"It usually takes them about two weeks to get that paperwork filtered through so we should have an answer for her soon," McVay said.
But while Gardner says adding stop signs would be an easy and obvious solution, McVay said that's not always the case.
"According to the Federal Highway Administration, stop signs are only supposed to be used when there's confusion over who has the right of way or if there's some kind of sight distance or visibility problem," she said. "So it's tough for us because [the FHA] very specifically said, 'Do not use stop signs for speed control.'"
Because stop signs are not the most effective speed deterrents, McVay said DOTE has instead been investing in speed cushions across the city. Similar to speed humps, they have wheel cutouts for emergency vehicles.
A pilot test last year added speed cushions on Winneste Avenue in Winton Hills.
McVay said average speeds dropped from 37 mph down to 20 mph with 90% of drivers speeding dropping down to just 10%.
McVay said more speed cushions on streets with high speed and crash rates could help to mitigate dangers for both vehicle traffic and pedestrians.
Whether she sees new stop signs or the installation of speed cushions, Gardner said she just hopes something is done to slow down traffic on her corner and that her push for change encourages others to do the same.
"Don’t just say, 'I don’t have time,' she said. "We all have time. If we have time to eat, we have time to make our community a better community.”
The Northside Pedestrian Safety & Traffic Enforcement Working Group is holding a special public meeting Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in Room 115 at City Hall.
Northside residents can send any questions or comments ahead of the meeting to Councilmember Mark Jeffreys' Chief of Staff at (513)-352-3464 or Giovanni.Rocco@cincinnati-oh.gov.
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