Today at around 3PM a bicyclist crossing from Manning Street over onto Rollins St was hit and struck by a car. Reports had the bicyclist "knocked out" unconscious for over 10 minutes before Derry's Ambulance arrived at the scene. Between 4-5 Police cruisers were also on site after someone called "911" to report the accident.
An eye witness reported damage to the car with a parking light smashed.
The local news papers should have a report coming in their papers soon.
For many years, Residents in the direct neighborhood have let their town councilors know about the fear of something like this happening when you have a recreation area near-by.
To make matters worse, a double yellow line runs down Rollins and Lenox St that were painted about 3 weeks ago. Both these roads have never had these double yellow lines before and when asked about them, Public Works officials have told residents that the painting company had simply made a mistake and painted these lines on both roads.
Lets hope nobody else gets hurt when and if the new bike path (which will run parallel with the new Manning Street) gets completed. However if you speak to the people in the neighborhood, they say that this is just the start of many bike/car accidents to come.
The opinions expressed are of my own individualy and are not to be interpreted as official of any governing body. Comments from readers are also of their own opinions and will be edited only if the content is harmful or non constructive to any individual. It is important to share information and thoughts on political process so that we may discuss issues that effect us all.
35 comments:
BC:
Its unfortunate that someone was hit... but I don't understand the point of this post.
Is there something I'm missing?
Maybe the bike path committee will build us a foot bridge so residents won't have to cross the street any more.
celtic,
It is always tough to make decisions when you have Commercial, Residential, and Recreational zones in town that when one zone infringes onto another, something suffers. In this case we have people that are well intent to try and mix the recreational and the commercial however it sometimes makes things worse than better. For Bikes to cross a road that cars usally fly down the road at speeds of 40 Miles per hour , well this is what can happen. The sad part is that the people that live there arent listened too. It happens all the time and not nessecary in Derry.
anon 9:01,
That would be intertesting to see....
There will always be accidents.
The balance is to try to reduce risks at places like Manning and Rollins.
In a perfect world, all the risks could be eliminated.
How many bike accidents do we have there anyway?
Was there an extenuating circumstance that it could have happened no matter what, such as bike rider just bolted across the street or driver was impaired etc.
Are we saying there will be more bike accidents because the town council was foolish in not listening to BC and approved the extension?
I personally do not like the extension either but this is because I am a cheap skate.
Just wanted to say that this is what the neighborhood stated as a reason to not create another road that was directly across the street from Hood Park. Their concerns are for SAFETY. It so turned political and the message from the neighborhood got lost. Some say BC didn't want it in his neighborhood- BC says this is what his district neighbors told him they were against it for this reason SAFETY. That message got lost in political sillyness. Now the neighbors wait for the next accident. Yes accidents happen all the time, however when you have the three zones recreation, commercial and residential- Something gives.
BC, about two years ago, a young boy was hit by a car turning off Manning Street while he was riding his bike across the bike path ... the bike path is a great recreational feature, however, with all of the buildings and heavy traffic downtown, we will see more of this sadly.
anon 8:34,
I agree
Come on BC, this is another attempt by you to rally the troops against the Manning Street paving project. Its sad that you use the injury to a bicyclist to further your moot point. The paving was voted on and will get done.
BREAKING NEWS: I fell in the shower stall today. Although it was due to my clumsiness, I want all tubs and showers in Derry outlawed. We will smell but be safe from falls.
(this argument makes as much sesne as BC's Breaking News post)
Beside being a cheapskate and not wanting to spend the $80,000, I also agree the situation is not the safest.
In essence we are creating an unsafe crossing and will gain nothing regarding traffic flow downtown, in my opinion.
It is not worth extending Manning street.
BC, I wish you had kept harping on the safety factor at the meetings. Maybe offered an alternate solution like re-routing the bike trail and the exits at Hood park and straighting the Rollin St. curve where Manning would exit.
Just let accusations fly over your head, ignore them and continue to speak about the item for discussion.
They are right some of the time and you are right some of the time. In this case I view you as 100% correct.
It seems to me the intersection/crosswalk coming out of Manning Street onto Broadway when you're taking a right seems more dangerous to me. I use Manning Street onto Broadway quite a bit and I'm conscious of that crosswalk and almost clipped a few people myself. The visibility to your left is bad and you're too busy watching that traffic for a break and when you get one you tend to make the turn and the crosswalk's right there; no time to stop if someone's already crossing. Personally I think when Manning Street gets paved it should be made a one way street. I guess we can't do anything about the speeding cars on Broadway, cars not stopping at crosswalks and enforcing the 2 hour parking. We don't enforce the ordinances, I guess we shouldn't enforce the laws either.
Brian,
The article with the details indicates this was a 20 year old on a BMX bike who was likley at fault for the accident as witnesses indicate that he was up the hill by the tennis courts and rode into the road at a high rate of speed without stopping. The car tried to avoid him but there was nothing the woman could do. It appears the bike ran into the car not vice versa.
There have been numerous bike accidents this summer - you have not posted articles about them. You point this one out in attempt to make your case against both Manning Street and Bike Path - pathetic in my opinion - using an accident and someone's injury to further your cause...
Perhaps posting the details of your own accident and your subsequent lawsuit against a property owner/construction firm that you were the real estate agent for is in order. I know - they should stop building houses, apartments and condos too because clumsy real estate sales people might fall down and hurt themselves on the site.
Give me a break Brian
Here's an idea - have the town make the intersection at the new Manning Street and Rollins a 3 way Stop sign intersection. This would make the Bike Path crossing and this whole stretch of street much safer!!! Here's another idea - If you are so concerned about this area why wait for the Manning Street extension - why don't you petition Public Works to put in stop signs now at this "Dangerous Crossing" into a well used park.
It is a side street anyway - I bet most drivers in town wouldn't mind having to stop there briefly in the name of safety for children.
This would be a better use of your energy Brian than constantly trying to stir up these old issues. The ship has sailed - focus your energy on something that you can actually have a positive impact on.
It really is amazing that 6 of 7 councilors think that Manning Ext will be the project that saves and revitalizes the downtown.
Here's a suggestion... aquire the downtown through eminent domain, bulldoze 90% of it, and rebuild luxury condos, high end retail shops, bars, restaurants, and diagonal parking.
Well, my project will probably never happen, but I can only hope!
Brian are you insinuating that every crash is a result of poor roadway design? I think if you were to actually examine the cause of this crash you would see it was operator error either on the part of the car or the bicyclist and not the location of a road and / or park. If the road or park were to blame we could expect to see these same types of crashes every day. It’s absolutely shameless in how you attempt to spin things for your point of view. It just shows you just don’t get it! When is your term over?? Not soon enough!
anon 2:21,
I agree the intersection at Manning & Broadway will be a tough one as well, however as far as making the new road a one-way, The study that was done says that making it a one way would be the worse thing you could do. The study did not reccomend the road, however said that if you do build it, make it two way. Seems to me we should not make a bad thing and worse.
Anonymous 3:20 yeah right. Translation: reduce the already anemic commercial base through forcible seizure of property, put the town into the real estate development business, and try to find people who are both rich enough to buy luxury condos and dumb enough to buy them in a town with a $22 plus tax rate. I suggest you run for town council, you will fit right in.
BC- you are supposed to be running a 40 plus million dollar enterprise and you've become fixated on a small investment in an obscure street. Get a grip. What's the status of our $6 million tiff project? Are our commercial property is being properly assessed? Are we still hemorrhaging money for exit 4A? Will going to Concord give you perspective?
anon 7:42,
On the TIFF, the prelim engineering is almost done. Remember that we established a TIFF district to help bring business in.
Assessments should be looked at by 2009-2010. If you recall, I voted against town wide reval back in 2005. That was the height of the market.
And on 4A- No more money is being spent. The EIS study is complete and we need to get fed funds to get the 4A ball rolling- No more local funds will be spent.
And lastly, we will see if I should get elected. I will always have Derrys best interest first and foremost.
Perhaps we should do a better job educating drivers on the rules of the road.
Perhaps we should do a better job educating bicyclists on the rules of the road.
Perhaps we should elect a someone to the New Hampshire statehouse who talks straight and doesn't try to exploit someone's injury to make a point.
If the residents feel so strongly about speeding on Rollins St, is there a way to petition the PD to setup speed traps?
It would seem if enough residents signed the petition, some action might happen.
I'm just thinking out loud here...not sure if this is even a possibility or if some other avenue may work.
There's usually a couple of police cars sitting in the lot accross from St. Thomas Aquinas. Maybe if they sat in the lot of Hood Park they could wave some people over and write tickets.
Brian,
What about those yellow lines on Rollins and Lenox Rds. Do you think that had anything to do with the speed of the driver?
Did you ask the town if they paid the line company for painting those mistakes?
The company should repaint the Yellow lines in BLACK. These neighborhoods take a beating from the whole town using them as shortcuts, now the residents have to put up with permanent grafiti.
Do we have to wait for the lines to wear off?
anon 9:28,
No way for me to tell if that was the case. Also not sure if car was speeding either.
I did ask the town who was paying for that mistake and was told that the company painted these roads by error and so We ( town ) would not be paying the company for their mistake. I'm also told that if they painted the lines black, the black paint would fade and the yellow lines would re "appear". So they will let the yellow lines fade in time.
I have had complaints that people think that its a major roadway because they see this yellow double line. Also the school children that walk in the Lenox rd area was a concern to some residents.
A double yellow line doesn't make people speed. Speeders will speed - lines or no lines. If anything the lines probably promote safety since on many roads with no lines people tend to "cut the corners".
Double Yellow simply means no passing - that should be something the neighborhood is happy about.
Another thing - in every neighborhood I have ever lived in - including some cul de sacs people complain about speeding. Standing on the side of the road seeing a car go by at 25 or 30 MPH often looks like the car is speeding - when in fact the car is traveling at legal speed limits. Would be interesting to put the Police speed board over on that street and see if this is more a perception that people are speeding or a reality. don't get me wrong - 30 MPH in a residential neighborhood is too fast for my liking - I'd prefer 15 -20MPH. But as Windham found out you can;t just set your own speed limits. There are guidelines that must be followed based on class of road, etc.
anon 11:35,
You are correct and I agree. I'm reporting what neighbors are saying and what they are perceiving to be true.
The neighboorhoods are NOT happy about a double yellow line though either.
I do agree that even in the cul de sac neighboorhoods, people are complaining about speeding as well.
The Police speed board is a good idea ( don't know where it could be put though).
The new yellow lines can be removed by sandblasting. The line co. knows this too.
A softer media will not harm the road and you will never know there was a line there.
poor derry taxpayer,
Thanks for that information! Wondering why PW does not know this????
If it was a mistake by the paint company, then I would think they should sandblast to take it off without any cost to the taxpayer.
Again, thanks for that info!
Thanks for that information! Wondering why PW does not know this????
If it was a mistake by the paint company, then I would think they should sandblast to take it off without any cost to the taxpayer.
It will obviously cost the line co. $$.
Perhaps PW has a relationship with line co. they do not want to mar.
Manning Street Ext - what a waste of money. First $80K now $125K. And what benefit to the traffic flow of downtown? And tell me why it makes sense to have a street empty out to right in front of a park that has been improved significantly over the last several years and is used by many of our youth? I would think it would make the most sense to make this a nice part of the bike trail with a nice wide walking path (well lighted and with benches to sit) to and from the park and downtown. The voting to approve the extension was obviously an attempt by the 'negative' councilors against BC.
I went to Manning & Rollins yesterday and looked very long and hard at this intersection.
I am more convinced than ever, we wasted money by approving the extension.
$125,000 divided by $6,000 average tax on a residence (not official, just a guess) means almost 21 hardworking Derry Taxpayers sent their money to the Tax collector only to have it wasted.
Imagine how they could have used this money on their families.
Poor Derry Taxpayer - You may be right but again I would point out that Manning Street is .3% of the town's spending. Let's focus on the other 99.7% where the big bucks go. BC has fixated on this issue, if only his other votes held town expendatures to the same metric I would cheer him on.
Maybe if we had that downtown fire station/resturant, responses to this area would be back to normal. How nice as it to see those firefighters at that station with the door open, showing kids the fire trucks, touring the station or just watching the cars go by on Broadway. Didn't it make you feel safe to know they were there? I don't get the same feeling from that abandoned resturant. !
You may be right but again I would point out that Manning Street is .3% of the town's spending.
You are correct in that Manning street is .3% of the total budget.
However how about looking at it being a .3% savings of total budget.
Then add another item of similar value several times over and bingo we got a 5% savings.
Start small, it all adds up.
Lets not look for an 5% savings on one item, we will never find it.
I have used Rollins almost everyday this week to see if maybe I was missing something regarding Manning st extension being unsafe.
I have gone by it at all different times this week, as an experiment.
I have now come to the conclusion that in addition to it being un-safe, we need to install red/green/walk signal light there with pedestrian option.
I noticed Manning St. is paved although not yet complete. Looks like the sidewalk/bikepath will cross Manning at the Courthouse and continue on the right side to the crosswalk into Hood Park. This looks to maybe help with sight lines at the Rollins Crossing.
Guess we'll know pretty soon if all the problems people are worried about wit this new road materialize.
I must say that it is going to look quite a bit better anyway. I thought for a long time that the dead end with dirt road looked kind of lame right in front of the Town Hall and Courthouse.
Post a Comment