To The Editor:

Years ago a friend was ticketed for passing left turning cars at a town traffic light where the road widened as if to accommodate it, and doing so was the norm. This caused me to consider the many other places in town where this occurs, and contemplate what it would be like if it didn’t. I also recalled an incident back in the 1980s when a friend was ticketed for passing just one left turning car. When questioned about it, the police said passing one would be OK if conditions were favorable to do so, but in his case it was storming.

I think we can all agree that it is not safe, not legal, and should not be the norm, to pass a line of left turning cars at our Main Street’s flagpole. But is it “illegal” to cross over the white line to pass only one car (as a letter writer recently asserted)? And would we really want that to stop? I once quizzed Newtown’s police for clarity on the rules there and was told it was technically a rotary. But clearly, that classification and application can only go so far, if it even still exists.

Our flagpole is so unique, that it would be impossible to legislate precisely how to navigate it in every given situation. And moreover, even if we did, would things get any better? So much of how to safely and responsibly drive there must be governed instead by norms. But our new normal seems to be the chaos created by out of towners, newcomers, and reckless and impatient drivers of all zip codes. So, now more than ever, it’s important that we try to hold the line by keeping our cool and modeling the sensible and safe behaviors we’d like others to emulate.

I have a couple of tips: if you are turning left onto Churchill Road please use your signal, approach slowly, and stop a bit to the left with your wheels straight. Do not swing wide and do not wait with your wheels turned left. If you do this and get rear ended, you will be pushed into oncoming traffic like one hapless driver on Mount Pleasant was a few weeks back. Only the quick thinking evasive maneuver of an oncoming tractor trailer averted a tragedy there (but ruined some landscaping). And if you are travelling south bypassing the flagpole, and cars are stopped to turn left, make your stop a bit to the right so as to let people behind you see the signaling cars, and inform them that your intent is to pass by when it is safe to do so.

If I were in charge, the flagpole would be a special 15 mile per hour speed zone so drivers would have time to take notice of all the moving dangers (car, cycle, human, canine, etc), and still maybe have a second to glance up and really appreciate the majesty of our beloved landmark.

Randi Allen Kiely

Newtown