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Speeding in Chimborazo Park
03/14/2013 7:16 AM by John M
Church Hill residents are fed up with drivers speeding through a neighborhood park; they hope a radar check point will help discourage speeders, and make the area safer.
TAGGED: Chimborazo Park
Speak for yourselves. I’d like to see fewer stop signs along Broad and don’t want cops writing BS tickets.
Speak for yourself. I’d like more stop signs, a few rumble strips, and a speed trap in certain sections.
DOT studies show that the stop signs cause people to become frustrated and speed between signs or on stretches of road without them. If this is true, then the stop signs that dot every corner on Broad force speeding on Marshall.
I agree with Alex, there’s nothing worse than speed bumps/rumble strips or even more stop signs than we already have. You yield to traffic in the traffic circle, not stop. The answer isn’t to punish everyone for a handful of speeders.
We’d like to see the police who sit in Chimbo park facing East Broad St. do something other than just sit there as car after car speeds past them. They could make a month’s quota on traffic tickts in just one day.
When living across from the park, it seemed that folks increase their speeds as more stop signs were added to Broad Street.
Hey #4–That was my dog. He was never off leash–just bolted out the door in one moment of excitement. The woman who hit him was going much too fast. He died. Some day it will be a kid. Take your attitude and shove it.
After taking 5 minutes to drive through all the stop signs, folks are looking to make up lost time / frustrated by the time they reach Chimbo. Nobody on Marshall seems to complain.
I think all the whiners here are just afraid their wild, unleashed dogs might get struck.
#7 Living, i’m not so sure the police car parked there is actually occupied. After wondering why it didn’t chase down more people, I noticed that it was unoccupied several times when I drove by. This was the car parked facing Broad Street in the 3400 block.
There was a RPD police officer living in a house in the 3400 block of Broad. I think he’s moved. I haven’t seen the car in a while. Traffic circles are the answer to this problem. The intersections of n32nd, Chimbo and n36th (?) would be great places to add traffic circles.
Please – no more circles! The ones around Chimborazo are complete failures. NO ONE stops (or even) yeilds coming from any direction. The circles are small because they impeded bus traffic, so you do not even need to slow down to get around them. These four corners are some of the most dangerous in the neighborhood even since they took the stop signs down.
Especially for pedestrians. Traffic circles are nightmares for pedestrians, as they are built to facilitate the flow of traffic rather encourage cars to come to a full stop to wait for pedestrians.
No one should be in so much of a rush in the few blocks that make up Church Hill that they cannot stop for stop signs or people for that matter.
stop signs or not does not excuse the speeding folks.
If enough people write polite emails to our pricint commander, he will probably up speed enforcement. It has happened in the past. The city deploys that “You are driving _______ MPH ” sign for a few days, then follows up with cars with radar guns for a few days.
Traffic circles are great when big enough. As many have noted the traffic circles on Marshall and Clay around the school had to be made smaller than anticipated to allow the buses, the means that people speed through them. I often stop instead of yield, because a$%%holes speed through them. I think there is a lot of speeding in Church Hill on almost every block.
Adding traffic circles is terrible idea. Have you ever driven Marshall or Clay around Chimborazo elementary? They don’t work there. If you want people to slow down make it a 4 way stop because a 4 way yield with a small plantar in the road does no good.
Kristin & Alex – Does either of you actually have a point or were you just being insensitive a-holes? Alex, if you are speeding in your own neighborhood, shame on you. You both need to back off and get your facts straight. The news report was inaccurate and misleading. The issue is not speeding in the park circle (which is also happening), but speeding in the 4-5 blocks along the park where there are no stop signs. Cars typically travel at 45 mpg and higher…in a 25 mph zone…in a high pedestrian traffic area. The Police ticket and fine people who allow their dogs off leash, but ignore the incessant traffic infractions and the dangers that they pose. When it’s YOUR pet, YOUR child or YOU who gets hit, you will feel differently.
When I spoke to Channel 8 I emphasized that I really don’t like stop signs and speed bumps and would prefer to see a variety of traffic “calming devices”, signage and ticketing used. We also need two very prominent crosswalks – one at the corner of 33rd and the other at 32nd or 31st. Also, signs saying the driver is entering a city and national park zone where children are playing. I counted over 12 kids playing on both sides of the street when our dog was struck. It could have been one of those kids that died. I know the problem of speeding is not just a “near the park” problem. I spoke to Channel 8 of the need to take a new look at the entire road system up here on the hill. I’ve seen progress (with the traffic circles and rain gardens on the main streets) since moving here, yet I’ve also seen the numbers of kids and dogs grow. I’m so sad our wonderful dog died but I glad the death was not that of a child.
@12 Lucky Canine: if the cop moved, that’s probably why I haven’t noticed the car lately. As to traffic circles – I hate them and really don’t think they work that well. On the other hand, speed bumps seem to work. There are some in Ginter Park, at least on Hawthorne Ave., and also on Bremo Road from Monument at St. Mary’s all the way to Broad Street.
At some point, I had a bookmark (since lost) for traffic calming devices. Try googling it, I found at least two that discussed the pros and cons of bumps, circles, and other issues. Interestingly, one of the things to consider was that of local education and enforcement, because supposedly the perps of speeding violations are usually local residents.
As someone who gets around the neighborhood primarily by bicycle, I love the traffic circles. Especially the real one at 25th and M and Jefferson.
I was thinking of real traffic circles. The ones at Chimborazo elementary are ridiculous. I hate speed bumps. Crosswalks would help – they’ve done that in carytown and and its helped.
I’m not a big fan of the circles either. People seem unsure what to do, sometimes stopping, other people speeding through them. At least the stop signs are clear, and people know what they’re supposed to do, though I think #5s comment has validity. Especially when faced with a bunch in a row, people speed between them. On my one-way street in Fulton, coming off of Government Rd, there is a 3 block stretch with no signs or bumps and people frequently race through there as fast as possible (cops included). I cringe when my neighbors kids are tossing the football on the sidewalk next to the street and someone races through. In Charlottesville there are a few streets where they’ve installed the wide, low speedbumps and they seem to work, I think, because people don’t want to mess up their cars.
Actually Alex, the people from Marshall ARE complaining. I’ve been filing complaints with Richmond City Police and GRTC, requesting speed traps be put in place and that the buses slow down.
I could give a flying fart whether anyone is inconvenienced by having to slow down for stop signs. We’re talking about safety here, and that takes priority. So yeah, let’s get more stop signs, rumble strips, drainage ditches that’ll rip out a speeder’s undercarriage, write more tickets, put up community signs, and hold people accountable.
Okay, fine, a few of y’all make an apt point, traffic circles are a bad idea, if only for the fact that 90% of the population has no idea how to operate in one. I’m not excusing stupidity–because if you can’t figure out a traffic circle, that’s stupidity, but we might as well head one problem there.
Dear JessofRVA:
No.
Signed,
Church Hill Resident
JessofRVA; great idea!