[Challenger]

Originally Posted by mickey100

Hearsay. If there was a fatal accident, it would have been reported, and would have been taken into account in the engineering study. And supposing there had been one fatal accident, doesn't mean it was related to poor visibility. Suppose someone had took much to drink, tripped getting into their golf cart, fell off their golf cart and suffered a fatal head injury. Oh, and this happened at night. Would striping have prevented that accident? Of course not. You always need to look at each accident, take into account the circumstances, and then determine cause and effect, and possible mitigation. There probably are accidents that occur that are not reported, but we can't spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on something that may or may not have happened without clearly identifying the cause of such accidents. Good engineering is made on actual data, not guesses.

On another note, people don't seem to realize that thermoplastic is an expensive proposition to install and maintain. And it can be a maintenance headache. The roadway surface has to be extremely dry before you put it down, otherwise it won't adhere well to the roadway surface. There are very exacting temperature and depth requirements regarding its application which affect durability and effectiveness of reflectivity. Given the humidity and rains we get here in Florida, and some of the construction practices I've seen here, I'm not confident that the contractors would get a good application down, and the lifespan will end up being shorter than the optimal one they are quoting us. It will look nice for a few years, but then it fades, starts coming up in small pieces, and frankly looks crummy. When they go to replace it, they'll probably go over the top of the previous lines. The lines won't line up exactly, so it will look worse the second time around. Additionally, when the put it down, it won't be right at the edge of pavement, it will be inset some which will decrease the width of the travel lane.

As a retired engineer, I think think the commissioners should heed the engineering report and vote against side striping at this time. A concerted effort should be made to keep track of all accidents on recreational trails, and keep those statistics for future reference. If, a few years down the road, it is found that the accident history justifies some sort of markings, install them at that time. At this point in time, the accident history does NOT justify pavement markings, certainly not thermoplastic.

Once again I ask, why would you want to act on facts , when we have perfectly good rumors, inuendo and conspiracy theories on which to base decisions?

Great post!!