To the Editor:

The intersection of South Main Street and Country Club Road (just north of the light at Mile Hill Road) is very dangerous, and action needs to be taken. Since July 2019, The Bee has reported on 12 car crashes at this “hazardous intersection”: on average, one per quarter.

The majority of these crashes (7) involved a vehicle traveling southbound on South Main Street and a northbound vehicle attempting to turn left onto Country Club Road.

Due to the design of the intersection, it is common for several cars to be stopped in the southbound left-turn-only lane onto Mile Hill Road, while cars traveling straight along South Main Street have a green light. When traveling southbound, there is no right turn possible at the light, so many drivers in the second lane blow straight through at 40 mph without slowing down.

Meanwhile, northbound cars attempting to turn left onto Country Club Road must pass through the line of stopped cars, which can completely block visibility into the next lane. It is no wonder that so many southbound vehicles traveling at full speed collide into these vehicles turning left onto Country Club Road, which seem to pop out of nowhere from behind a line of stopped cars.

I am shocked that this consistent pattern of similar crashes has not yet prompted any safety measures to be put into place! Almost all involved drivers were out-of-towners unfamiliar with the intersection.

I suggest that changing the one-way direction of Country Club Road, such that it can only be entered from Elm Street (which is far less heavily trafficked) and cannot be entered from South Main Street, would avoid these hazardous situations.

There is no equivalent visibility issue for cars exiting Country Club Road onto South Main Street, so I believe this simple change would improve safety without compromising the flow of traffic.

At minimum, an investigation into this issue and what other action can be taken is long overdue!

Sincerely,

Ian Wojcik

Newtown