Safety Issues (under construction)
At the March gathering of the Southern Communities Coalition, in response to my question about fatal accidents on Red Bridge Road, Councilmen Brooks and Eddy were able to recall two fatalities on the road. Neither of them happened in the project area (which statistics gathered by the engineering firm HDR indicate is the safest stretch of Red Bridge), and neither can ultimately be attributed to the road itself. One fatality resulted because the car left the roadway and landed upside-down in a creek on the north side of the road between Askew and Cleveland. Only after that accident were guardrails installed at that location. The more recent of the two fatalities occurred near the intersection with Washington. Councilman Eddy attempted to attribute the crash to a gentle curve in the road about two blocks away. However, the man who lives at the intersection of Washington and Red Bridge happened to be at the meeting. He also has a copy of the Police report. He stood up and explained the true causes of the accident, which include not wearing seat belts, alcohol, and a speed of 65 MPH. The major contributing factor was a leaking water main which had covered the road with water that had frozen at the time of the accident. In fact, the City as much as admitted it was at fault for not repairing the leak in a timely fashion when they settled a wrongful death case with the parents of the man who was killed.