Traffic accidents at Powell Rd and Rt. 44
 

There was an article,this morning, in The Villages newspaper, The Daily Sun, about all the vehicle crashes at the intersection of Powell Road and Route 44 in the last two years, with 3 fatalities. Looking at the diagram that was shown in the paper, at least 15 of the 20 crashes could have been prevented with a relatively inexpensive, simple fix.

Left turn arrows, but RED left turn arrows when there is oncoming traffic. Also, "NO RIGHT TURN ON RED" signs on Powell Rd and Signature Dr.

Any other suggestions that might keep these accidents to a minimum?

After seeing what the county/state? did with hwy 301 and cr 472 intersection, I can only imagine what will happen with powell and 44.

Park a cop car there with a dummy in it. I mean a manikin.

I have always said, all the turning lanes which have green arrows should turn to a red arrow when the oncoming traffic have the green light. Look at all these intersections with constant crashes ... Powell and 44, Buena Vista and 466A, Morse and 466A. I just don't get why this has not been done.

You can't fix inattention with signs or lights...period. Inattention happens when someone is either preoccupied with other things in life except driving, or has gotten old to the point of being unable to focus their attention 100 percent on the task at hand.

Signs/cop car/whatever will not fix this and never will. Perhaps autonomous cars might, but until then it is a fact of life...and death.

I suspect the partial solution to this problem will be a lowering of the speed limit from 55 to 45, in that area.

That area, in general, has seen an increase in development within the last 2 years that has increased/changed the traffic patterns in that area.

Lowering the speed limit will not necessarily lessen the number of accidents, but rather the severity.

I think what they did was a big improvement over the way it was. Their conclusion was to put in a roundabout in the future. Now that would be crazy................

We have a unique situation here, the elderly in many stages, the golf carts and the sometimes wild maneuvers of contractors and visitors. Let's not forget every single day people are here trying to find their way through the maze of roads and roundabouts for the first time too. Whatever extra help to make things as clear as possible gets my vote.

This intersection has an additional 'feature', it has a significant hump, not sure if this has contributed to any of the accidents, as you may need to slow down going through it. I did see a very close call at this intersection, when apparently I was taking too long to make a SAFE left turn on to Powell. The car behind me came thru with me and the on coming (East bound) vehicle had to hit their brakes hard to avoid hitting the car behind me.

With a left on arrow only
 

you can prevent failure to yield accidents. The same holds true on Rt 466A at Buena Vista and Morse. Ive seen some really close calls, especially since its extremely difficult to see on coming traffic on 466A, when there are cars in the turn lanes. No doubt there will be a major (fatal) accident at these intersections, if there has no already been one.

I believe red left turning lights will grab people's attention. Most people obey red lights; they wouldn't be out there in the middle of a busy intersection.

I agree. It is insane that at these major intersections cars able to turn against traffic.People are in so much of a hurry that they don't care about safety. People pulling into these intersections make them even more dangerous. A red and green turn arrow would fix this problem and possible save lives.

Might help, but overall I disagree with this philosophy. You just end up sitting there waiting for an entire cycle of the lights while there may be no one coming in the opposite direction. There are plenty of turns off 44 where there is no light at all, should we put a traffic light with red arrows at every one of them? The problem is that you're trying to fix stupid, and that doesn't work. If you are too blind, or too inattentive to know when you can make a left off a high speed highway, perhaps you should stay off that road.

Again it might, but many people who might be just sitting there for no reason while there is a green light for traffic going straight, say they are the only car on the road at midnight, will probably just turn through it anyway

I disagree with your disagreement! At the intersections of 466A & Morse & BV & 466A, it is very difficult to see around the car(s) in the left hand turn lane opposite yours. People pull out anyway, and surprise, surprise, there's a car or two barreling toward you while you're in the middle of the intersection.

Pretty impossible to live down this way and stay off of 466A. Besides, the people you would tell that to obviously wouldn't take heed. I'll bet you one of Bare's lobsters on it.:MOJE_whot: