A week ago I was sitting in my vehicle at the crosswalk that runs across the driveway where 15th Avenue crosses Long Street and runs into Sweet Home High School, wondering if I was ever going to get around the corner.
There were five cars stacked up on 15th, alongside Wells Fargo Bank, attempting to cross Long Street to either turn left or come into the parking lot I was trying to exit.
We were waiting for another long line of cars, most of them carrying students or parents or both, traveling back and forth along Long Street. The situation was complicated by students who were crossing Long (and the driveway) on foot.
Suffice to say it was a little chaotic, just like it is nearly every morning – and lunchtime – and when the high school day ends.
I have some sympathy for the idea broached (once again) at the most recent School Board meeting and taken up this week by the city Traffic Committee (on Tuesday, too late for us to report on it for this issue), that maybe a signal would be appropriate at that intersection.
Don’t pile on me, now. I am not a big advocate of signals. In fact, I generally dislike them. I appreciate the fact that Sweet Home has few of them. I’ve lived in communities much larger than Sweet Home where there were many, many traffic lights – way too many. I’ve also lived in one community where there were no signals, other than a couple of stop signs