Tag Archives: Speed limit

Roadscapes Wednesday: Quintard Dr. Reconstruction / Greenbrier Speed Limits

Posted on by
Reply

Roadscapes Geek Alabama

Last weekend I went to look at the construction along Quintard Dr. / AL-21 in Oxford.  This  part of the road in front of Wal-Mart has been dangerous for a long time now.  Here’s a former picture from Google Maps.

oxford

Construction is taking place to make these intersections a lot safer!  When finished, only left turns off of Quintard Dr. will be allowed.  While construction is taking place, the median crossovers between the two traffic lights are closed off.  Since all traffic has turn at the traffic lights, this is causing big traffic backups!

stuff 036stuff 029stuff 037

One thing I found funny was at the Wal-Mart traffic light.  There are two left turn lanes but many cars choose the far left turn lane.  This causes traffic to back up onto the left lane of AL-21.  If you are going to Chick-fil-A or the gas station, why not cut through the Wal-Mart parking lot?

stuff 033stuff 040stuff 051

I wish people would use the left turn lanes properly instead of making a dangerous U-Turn at the Wal-Mart traffic light.  Cars are making U-Turns while cars are turning right from the Wal-Mart parking lot.  It won’t take long for an accident to happen!

stuff 056

I also wanted to talk about Greenbrier Dear Road.  I thought the speed limits were going down to 35 between Hillyer Robinson Parkway and Quintard Ave.  But nope, the speed limits are 35 from Golden Springs Road all the way to Quintard Ave.

stuff 261stuff 267stuff 269stuff 274

Since I live along this stretch of road, I have noticed NO ONE following the new speed limits.  All the cars are going 45-50 including me!  I am afraid this is setting up to be a speed trap for the city to make some money.  I guess I will be getting the media involved in this as well.

By the way, the Sunday Discussion post talking about the major traffic problems along Leon Smith Parkway was viewed by many people.  Read that post below!

http://geekalabama.com/2013/03/24/sunday-discussion-traffic-light-problems-in-annistonoxford/

Related articles
About these ads

Roadscapes Wednesday: Speed Trap Coming?

Posted on by
Reply

Roadscapes Geek Alabama

Many drivers hate the speed trap.  Most drivers will travel at a speed that they are comfortable driving in.  If that means a driver goes over the speed limit; then so be it!  The Anniston City Council has started to talk about reducing the speed limit on a stretch of busy road.  And I don’t see any need for the speed limit reduction!  Currently; a part of Greenbrier Dear Rd. in Anniston has a speed limit of 35.  The main reason is because of a dangerous curve going down the mountain.  Whenever the road is wet; accidents do occur.  The rest of the 4-lane road has a speed limit of 45.

speed

I can get why a part of Greenbrier Dear Rd. has a 35 speed limit.  The part of the road with a curve going down the mountain is dangerous.  It’s even worse when its wet!  Many wrecks have occurred on this part of road.

birthday-034

Even in the speed limit 35 zone; many drivers still goes 45.  The city police loves to camp out right behind the speed limit 35 sign to catch people going too fast down the mountain. So now there is discussions to reduce the speed limit to 35 from Quintard Ave. to Hillyer Robinson Parkway.  Basically the entire 4-lane road over Greenbrier Mountain would be 35.  And in my opinion; this would be a huge speed trap.  I believe most drivers would not obey the speed limit and still go 45.  Looking at the pictures below, the road is up to standards for a speed limit of 45.

birthday-051birthday-056birthday-060

The road is about to get repaved so there will be a temporary speed limit reduction.  But if this speed limit 35 plan is going to be permanent; I see this as a speed trap.  The city police will be camping out in certain spots to pull over the victims speeders.   On the website called The National Speed Trap Exchange.  There are already several listings from people talking about the Greenbrier Dear Road speed limit 35 drop.

http://www.speedtrap.org/view/Alabama/109220

http://www.speedtrap.org/view/Alabama/52589

http://www.speedtrap.org/view/Alabama/28905

Most drivers will not follow the speed limit of 35 and will continue going 45 over Greenbrier Mountain.  I will still go 45 over the mountain!  In my opinion; most drivers will view this as a revenue enhancer for the City of Anniston.  Since I am still out of work, I could take up the task of warning drivers of a cop ahead.  But I probably will not do that; I don’t want to end up like this woman in the video below who was arrested.

 

Related articles

Roadscapes Wednesday: CC Road Accident

Posted on by
Reply

Roadscapes Geek Alabama

A fatal car accident has shaken up the Oxford Alabama community.  On Saturday morning a car accident killed 16 year-old Brittney Bonner and 19 year-old James Michael “Trey” Phillips III when the truck went across McIntosh Road and hit a tree.  Another truck driven by 19 year-old Steven Horton was involved in the crash and is recovering from injuries in a Birmingham hospital.  The teens were riding in mud around the Kentuck ORV trails in the Talladega National Forest.  Both trucks were found on the same side of the road and were found 20 feet apart after both struck trees along the roadside.  You can read more about the accident and hear from the families who lost loved ones right before Christmas at the link: http://www.annistonstar.com/view/full_story/21101097/article-Family-remembers-Brittney-Bonner–16–killed-in-weekend-car-accident?instance=home_news

I went out to the intersection where the wreck happened and I did not find anything wrong with the intersection.  The stop sign is clearly visible and you can see it from a good distance.  So the trucks had plenty of time to stop.

stop sign

Sure, you could place a stop ahead sign at this location where I took the photo.  Any vehicles would have plenty of time to stop.

stop ahead

When you look at the actual intersection of CC road and McIntosh Road, there is a small hill and curve that limits sight distance on one side.  On the other side there is plenty of sight distance.  The intersection is right on the Calhoun/Talladega county line.

accident 032accident 010accident 014accident 021accident 027

The speed limit on CC Road is only 25.  So one has to ask if the teens were driving too fast.  You could also question if there were brake problems on the truck from the mud or if the teens were distracted while driving.  Yes many teenagers love their phones.

accident 024accident 009

The families of the victims have already placed roadside memorials at the accident site.  You can still see little pieces from the wrecked cars and plenty of black from the fire that occurred at this site.

accident 016accident 030accident 018

While I am talking about McIntosh Road.  Calhoun County needs to paint some white lines along the sides of this road.  The speed limit in this area is 45 and when its dark or raining the lack of white lines is dangerous on this narrow road.

accident 014accident 033accident 037

I was told by someone on social media that the teens that were killed were in one of the photos I took during the Oxford Christmas Parade.  Yes you have my permission to save this photo.

oxford-156

The bottom line is I think either a vehicle error or distracted driving caused this accident.  The intersection had a stop sign and plenty of sight distance.  Many of us do drive distracted such as using a cell phone which should be banned!  When another teen lost her life by not wearing a seat belt.  I wrote this post about the dangers of driving while distracted and not wearing a seat belt.  It’s sad when you lose a loved one right before Christmas.

http://geekalabama.com/2012/10/24/roadscapes-wednesday-seat-belts-and-distracted-driving/

Related articles

Roadscapes Wednesday: Move Over Law

Posted on by
Reply

Many states have a move over law on the books.  The move over law is for the protection and safety of emergency workers doing their jobs on a highway.  The law is for anyone who is a police officer, fire fighter, EMS worker, tow truck worker, DOT workers, utility workers, or anyone pulled over on the side of the road that has emergency lights flashing.  The law makes drivers on a divided highway to move over one lane when you come up to anyone with flashing lights pulled over on the shoulder.  If there is too much traffic you must slow down while going by the people pulled over.  On a 2-lane road you must slow down when you encounter someone pulled over.  This video shows why the move over law is on the books.

The law in Alabama is simple to follow.  This is the law from the Alabama State Troopers.  Upon approach of a stopped emergency vehicle with flashing lights, you should:

On highways with four or more lanes: Move over one lane. If it is unsafe to move over, slow down to 15 miles below posted limit.

On two-lane roads: Move over as much as possible without leaving lane, slow down to a speed that is at least 15 mph below posted speed limit.

IF the posted speed limit is 20 mph or below, slow down to 10 mph.

And ALDOT does put out signs along roads telling about the law.  But the signs are not that great.  The signs say “move over for stopped emergency vehicles when clear.”  But those signs do not tell you to slow down on 2-lane roads or if there is too much traffic.  Plus the signs are too small and jumbled together to read at high speeds.

I think ALDOT can make a better sign that is bigger and easier to read at high speeds.  Many other states with move over laws have much better signs that is easy to read and explains the move over law perfectly.

So here are my sign re-designs for the move over law in Alabama.  Notice I put a yellow bar on the top of the sign so it has a better chance to be read and seen.  And the signs are bigger so it can be read at high speeds.  Here is my sign for divided highways.

And here is my sign for 2-lane highways.  I did not put “move over” on these signs because it is hard to move over on a 2-lane road.

This is something ALDOT can do to make the move over law better understood with drivers across the state.  The excuse, if a driver is pulled over because they did not see the sign and move over will not be valid anymore.  This is something that will save lives in Alabama.  The question is will ALDOT do this; because I already have a great negative track record with them.

Related articles

Roadscapes Wednesday: Speeding Through A Work Zone

Posted on by
Reply

On my way back from the Alabama Phoenix Festival I followed a pack of cars doing around 75mph in a 55mph zone on Interstate 20 through the work zone in St. Clair County.  I just wanted to get home and get some rest from the great three days at the event.  And following a group of cars doing the same speed was a no-brainier.  So who cares if I went 20mph over the speed limit breaking the law.  I never saw a cop in the work zone and it felt so good to get through that stretch of interstate instead of crawling along aside slow trucks going up the mountain!

And speaking of crawling along.  Why has the work on Interstate 20 slowed down to nothing.  I have been through here several times in the last few months and nothing has changed.  Come on ALDOT and the construction workers.  Get moving!

Related articles

The Glencoe Speed Limits

Posted on by
Reply

I should of written this last night but I was so tired.  I slept for a good 11 hours last night.  I guess the time change must have something to do with that.  Finally ALDOT did something everyone agrees with!  They raised the speed limit in the city of Glencoe.  The speed limit through Glencoe was 45 mph.  Even in some of the rural areas it was 45 mph.  And you guessed it; the police was staked out waiting for people to go faster than 45 on a 4-lane highway designed for a speed of 65 mph.

This was the original speed limit on this stretch of U.S. 431.  The speed limit dropped to 45 mph and there was nothing around in this area to make the speed limit that low.  When I drove through there I sometimes saw the police in the median waiting to pull over the next victim.  Here is the new photo of the same area.

The 45 mph signs are now replaced with the speed limit 55 reduction ahead signs.  And this photo should make everyone happy.

No more 45 mph.  The speed was raised to 65 mph past Green Valley Rd.  And the police can not pull over anymore victims on a road designed for 65 mph.  Unless you go faster than 65.  ALDOT originally asked the Glencoe city council to raise the speed limit but they rejected it.  The reason was because they had safety concerns over the higher speed.  They wanted to keep their seniors and citizens safe.  This is something I do not buy.  I think Glencoe wanted to keep the speed limit lower for ticket revenue or as some people calls it; a speed trap.  And now Glencoe will have to look for other revenue streams since the ticket cash cow is now gone.

Speaking of low speed limits.  It seems like Glencoe just loves them.  Many of their city streets have very low speed limits.  Streets like Main St.;  Lonesome Bend Rd.; and other streets have speed limits of 25 mph and it is like going at a crawl.  And no one goes that slow at all.  So I think the city of Glencoe likes to stay in the 1950′s with way too low speed limits.  Maybe this is a start for Glencoe Alabama to finally raise the speed limits to more reasonable levels.  And if Glencoe is concerned about revenue.  Maybe they need to raise some taxes.

Related articles