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Stretch
fatalities show fallacy of DOT plans
EDITOR:
I was saddened to read of two
more tragic traffic fatalities on the 18-Mile Stretch that occurred June
27.
Since the early 1980s, when the state Department
of Transportation first called for greater safety on this road, they
have refused to implement many of the cost-effective solutions used
around the country that could improve safety today. They have instead
insisted on waiting for their $180 million, five- to 10-year highway
construction boondoggle, holding us hostage in the process.
DOT's approach to traffic safety is the failed
"forgiving road" concept that ignores the responsibility of drivers and
actually encourages speeding and other dangerous behavior by making
larger, faster roads - often accompanied by worse safety records.
Their
approach encourages speeding and tries to protect drivers from
themselves and others with massive concrete barriers, which gives
drivers a false sense of security, encouraging more dangerous behavior.
A more successful and more cost-effective
approach is to modify driver behavior through greater enforcement, full
utilization of state-of-the-art intelligent transportation systems
slated for partial implementation this summer in the Keys, and
traffic-calming features that lead to moderate speeds while increasing
the attractiveness of a road by retaining roadside trees and vegetation.
Another possible alternative is the Route 6 "Cape Cod" berm road that,
despite having 50 percent more traffic than the Stretch, has not had a
head-on fatality in the 13 years since it was built.
Alligator Alley is a sad example of the failure of DOT's approach. In
the 1980s, DOT target the undivided two-lane road for safety
improvement. After DOT's expansion to what was ostensibly the safest
configuration, the traffic increased by 12 percent while the accidents
increased by more than 70 percent, and the fatalities increased by more
than 200 percent. Rather than implement more cost-effective
behavior-modifying alternatives, they created a straight, flat, wide
thoroughfare that did nothing but encourage faster driving, with fatal
consequences.
DOT intends to protect occupants of vehicles, but
does not recognize the impact, so to speak, of excessive speed on the
pedestrians and bicyclists in the Keys. Failure to use the Stretch as a
buffer to modify aggressive driving habits would result in the delivery
of Miami's road-rage stress and carnage directly to the slower-paced
Keys.
John Hammerstrom
Key Largo |
