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She said she isn’t sure what makes the intersection so troublesome — “unless it has something to do with a full moon.”
Second Avenue and Broad Street is one of Rome’s five most-dangerous intersections, according to accident statistics.
What makes this junction particularly dangerous has less to do with a full moon than with a poorly timed traffic light, according to observations and measurements taken by the Rome News-Tribune.
The state Department of Transportation reports average traffic through the intersection was more than 22,000 vehicles a day in 2000. Rome Police Department figures show there were 42 wrecks there last year.
In a two-week period in January this year Bartlett said she heard about 11 wrecks at the intersection — eight in one day.
“Considering how many cars come through here, I guess it should be expected,” she said, looking up as the wheel of a car ground against the curb outside and a motorist honked a horn.
“People run that red light bad,” she said. “They just go too fast.”
Regardless of speed, the intersection is an accident waiting to happen. Many law-abiding motorists who are not going too fast, who are driving the speed limit of 35 mph on Second Avenue, “run that red light bad” every day, because the yellow caution light is too short for them to safely clear the intersection.
The distance between the two stop lines painted on the asphalt on either side of the intersection is 145.5 feet, according to measurements taken by the newspaper. The state Department of Motor Vehicle Safety says a driver going 35 mph needs 93 feet to stop safely.
Those two distances added together equal 238.5 feet, so a motorist going 35 mph on Second Avenue who is 90 feet from the intersection (too close to stop safely) when the green light turns yellow must travel more than 235 feet to get across.
But the yellow light won’t let him. The newspaper timed the yellow light seven times last week, and the duration of the yellow varied from 2.23 seconds to 3.58 seconds. The average was about three seconds. A vehicle going 35 mph travels 51.3 feet per second, or 154 feet in three seconds, the duration of the yellow light.
In the example above the driver would still be about 80 feet short of clearing the intersection, roughly in the middle of Broad Street and directly under the traffic light, when it turned red. And this occurred to a driver doing the speed limit.
According to the newspaper’s calculations, a driver doing the 35 mph speed limit must be within 10 feet of the stopping line when the light turns yellow to have a chance of safely clearing the intersection.
It’s little wonder Bartlett noted drivers “run that red light bad.”
Not surprisingly, among the 42 accidents recorded at Second and Broad, more than 25 percent were caused by “failure to yield.”
Although only one motorist was cited for running the red light, Lt. Roy Willingham of the Rome Police Department said a person who runs a red light could be charged with failure to yield to oncoming traffic.
The newspaper also timed the other light at the intersection. For drivers westbound on Broad Street, their yellow light varied from a maximum 3.63 seconds duration to a minimum 0.74 of a second.
Yellow lights at Rome’s four other dangerous intersections were consistently clocked at four seconds.
Neither police nor Kirk Milam, director of Rome public works, said they’ve ever gotten complaints about an inconsistent yellow light at the intersection.
Milam said he was surprised by the news of bad timing but said it is probably an electronic fluke in the signal box. He said he would visit the site and make any needed changes.
There were more than nine different factors involved in wrecks at the intersection during 2001, so Milam said it’s unlikely the quick yellow light would be the only problem.
He said his office has researched the traffic problem and is preparing a list of solutions for approval by the state Department of Transportation.
Willingham also said he isn’t sure how much an improved traffic signal would change the crash statistics “but anything is worth a shot.”
Some wrecks occur at the light when drivers weave around someone turning left in front of them.
Milam said one recommendation to end the weaving problem is to ban left turns onto Broad Street from Second Avenue during peak traffic times.
Instead, drivers would turn left onto East First Street, instead of Broad Street, from Second Avenue. That traffic signal has a green arrow that should cut down on rear-end collisions and improper lane changes, Milam said.
The problem of vehicles turning left across traffic from Broad Street onto Second Avenue could be solved by changing the timing of the green light, Milam said, allowing vehicles to pass safely through the intersection while oncoming motorists are stopped on red.
While those solutions require DOT approval, he said, extending the duration of the yellow light could be done by his office.
Willingham said the Second Avenue crossing and others around town could lose their distinction as “dangerous intersections” if motorists would simply pay attention and watch for other drivers.
Rome police investigated 2,532 wrecks throughout the city in 2001.
The leading cause of collisions at each of the top five intersections was drivers following too closely.
The most-dangerous intersection, police have said, is Redmond Circle at Shorter Avenue and Coosawattee Avenue, where 75 wrecks occurred.
Other intersections with high wreck numbers include Turner McCall Boulevard at Hicks Drive and Riverbend Drive, Turner McCall Boulevard at Broad Street and Martha Berry Boulevard at Veterans Memorial Highway.
Because shopping centers and vital highways are located near the top five “dangerous intersections,” he said, they typically see a higher volume of traffic than other areas of the city.
According to year 2000 statistics from the Division of Planning and Programming at the DOT, traffic at the intersection of Shorter Avenue and Redmond Road near the Wal-Mart Super Center averaged about 20,000 vehicles daily.
Based on that volume of traffic and on its 75 wrecks in 2001, that intersection is by far the most dangerous in the city.
Average daily traffic volume on Turner McCall at its intersections with Broad Street and Riverbend Drive at Super Kmart Center was 46,640 vehicles. About 29,054 vehicles a day go through the intersection of Martha Berry Boulevard and Veterans Memorial Parkway.
Monday and Fridays have always been the worst days of the week for wrecks, Willingham said, with incidents beginning around lunch, peaking about 4 p.m. and slowing down around 7 p.m.
Drivers experience the most problems in locations with access lanes or merging lanes, he said.
A technique police teach during safe driving courses is keeping enough distance between vehicles.
The DMV recommends that drivers use counting as a guide. A driver should pick a reference point for the vehicle in front of him, then start counting when that vehicle passes the reference point. A driver should be able to count the words “one thousand one, one thousand two” before his own vehicle reaches the reference point. If a driver can’t finish the full count, he should back off, and back off even farther on wet pavement or if another driver is tailgating him.
When a person has stopped or is yielding, Willingham said, a safe distance is any point where the lead vehicle’s rear tires are still visible.
“That way if you start up and realize they haven’t moved you’ve still got time to stop,” Willingham said.
But at intersections like Veterans Memorial Highway and Martha Berry Boulevard, which feature “bona fide merging lanes,” Willingham said drivers need to keep moving and not stop.
“By the time you get to the end of it somebody will have let you in,” he said.
The primary solution to preventing wrecks in Rome is patience, Willingham said.
“Everybody gets in a big hurry,” he said, “but instead of driving faster they should probably try leaving the house sooner.”
Police are trying to solve some of the problems through higher visibility and increased enforcement.
“Whether we’re effective with writing tickets or not it (the sight of an officer at an intersection) always slows people down,” he said.
“People need to realize that they’re operating a 2,000-pound piece of metal and fiberglass,” he said. “Anti-lock brakes are a wonderful thing but they aren’t gonna stop you.”
DANGEROUS INTERSECTION FACTS
The following is a list of the five most-dangerous intersections in Rome, the number of wrecks in 2001 and the primary cause of each wreck:
Redmond Circle at Shorter and Coosawattee Avenues (near Wal-Mart Super Center) — 75 wrecks
-- Following too close (45)
-- Failure to yield (14)
-- Improper lane change (5)
-- Other (4)
-- Weather conditions (2)
-- Disregard stop sign/signal (1)
-- DUI (1)
-- Improper turn (1)
-- Mechanical/vehicle failure (1)
-- Wrong side of the road (1)
Turner McCall Boulevard at Hicks and Riverbend Drives (near Super Kmart Center) — 58
-- Following too close (24)
-- Failure to yield (12)
-- Improper lane change (8)
-- Disregard stop sign/signal (4)
-- Improper turn (3)
-- Other (3)
-- DUI(2)
-- Hit and run (1)
-- Improper backing (1)
Turner McCall Boulevard at Broad Street — 45
-- Following too close (26)
-- Failure to yield (7)
-- Hit and run (3)
-- Distracted (2)
-- Improper lane change (2)
-- Disregard stop sign/signal (1)
-- DUI (1)
-- Improper turn (1)
-- Mechanical/vehicle failure (1)
-- Other (1)
Second Avenue at Broad Street — 42
-- Following too close (14)
-- Failure to yield (11)
-- Improper lane change (5)
-- Other (4)
-- Hit and run (3)
-- Improper turn (2)
-- Disregard stop sign/signal (1)
-- Distracted (1)
-- DUI (1)
Martha Berry Boulevard at Veterans Memorial Highway — 42
-- Following too close (26)
-- Disregard stop sign/signal (5)
-- Other (3)
-- Hit and run (2)
-- Distracted (1)
-- Failure to yield (1)
-- Improper lane change (1)
-- Improper turn (1)
-- Object or animal (1)
-- Parked improperly (1
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