To the editor:
The city of Franklin has decided not to replace the overhead flashing red light at the corner of East King and Forsythe streets. As the oldest resident of the corner (40 years) I think this is a mistake that could make the intersection less safe.
The light was installed in 1984 after I alerted INDOT to the regular (but infrequent) running of the stop sign by vehicles (including trucks) approaching from the direction of the interstate. I did so after a pickup ran the stop on a clear sunny day, collided with a car in the intersection and careened into my driveway 60 feet away.The state investigated and determined that a light was necessary. After it was installed it has been rare to see a vehicle running the stop sign and there have been no significant accidents in 35 years.
I was told by a city official that two 12-inch flashing red lights placed atop a stop sign on the northeast corner of the intersection will prevent vehicles coming from the direction of the interstate from running the stop. The other three corners will have standard stop signs without a flasher. City engineers feel that this is a safe replacement for the overhead flasher. There seems to be a sense among the planners that the overhead flasher has been providing a level of safety that is not required.
It may be that the very success of the overhead light in providing for the safe movement of vehicles is what is dooming it. City officials can point to the lack of accidents at the corner as a reason why the light is not needed, without considering that the good safety record is due to the light itself.
Much has changed in the city and county since 1984 when the light was installed. The population has increased significantly, which has proportionately increased the traffic at the corner. The drug problem in the county has mushroomed into an epidemic. Cell phones have changed everyone’s life, including the way we drive (and text?), and with the increase in population, the number of DUI’s has increased. It remains to be seen whether people in a drug- or alcohol-induced fog, people texting or talking, or people coming off the interstate after a long, tiring drive are more likely to see and correctly interpret an overhead red light flashing or a stop sign with blinkers on it.
One thing we do know for a certainty: the overhead flashing red light has worked extremely well for 35 years at providing a safe movement of vehicles through the intersection. Why abandon the tried and true for the experimental?
Jim Curry
Franklin
