[Happinow]

There has been yet another accident on Morse/466A, this time involving a pregnant woman. The news doesn't say exactly how it happened, but putting that aside, the lights at these major intersections should have a light in the turning lanes that are red and green arrow turn signals only. With the amount of impatient people driving I believe it would save lives and save many from injury. If you could only make a turn on the green arrow, opposed to turning on a green arrow and a green light it would take the guess work out of wondering if there were cars coming in the opposite direction, making it dangerous to attempt a turn across traffic. How many accidents will have to happen before changes are made? It reminds me of the danger at Colony crossing before they put that light in. I hope these intersections will get the safety lights needed to protect us all from serious injury.

[golf2140]

It's not the intersection, but the nuts behind the wheel !!!!

[iaudit]

Originally Posted by Happinow

There has been yet another accident on Morse/466A, this time involving a pregnant woman. The news doesn't say exactly how it happened, but putting that aside, the lights at these major intersections should have a light in the turning lanes that are red and green arrow turn signals only. With the amount of impatient people driving I believe it would save lives and save many from injury. If you could only make a turn on the green arrow, opposed to turning on a green arrow and a green light it would take the guess work out of wondering if there were cars coming in the opposite direction, making it dangerous to attempt a turn across traffic. How many accidents will have to happen before changes are made? It reminds me of the danger at Colony crossing before they put that light in. I hope these intersections will get the safety lights needed to protect us all from serious injury.

I agree. When there are cars trying to make a turn in both directions, it is nearly impossible to see oncoming cars in the left lanes coming at you. The turn lanes should be arrows only and turn red until the next cycle.

[Topspinmo]

I also agree, green arrows should not be green if they don't have the right away. usually the green arrow goes yellow then out when on coming traffic goes green. IMO if the green arrow stays green when on coming traffic gets green light this is just stupid unless I misunderstood.

[Cobh521]

I believe some blame rests on inpatient drivers. I was going south on Morse on Wednesday and was stopped at the light at 466a. On two occasions, two cars also going south on Morse pulled up beside me and made a right hand turn onto 466a without stopping while there was oncoming traffic. They both nearly caused an accident. We can write about how drivers around here ignore traffic signals until we are blue in the face because these people will not change.

[kcrazorbackfan]

Seriously, what can you expect with 100k residents? No accidents? Maybe where we moved from (Smithville, MO w/ a pop. of 8k residents). Accidents are going to happen with this many people, the "in season", the people that are new residents, new snowbirds, people that have aged in place here and their skills have diminished - YOUR NECK HAS TO BE ON A SWIVEL AT ALL TIMES TO KEEP FROM BECOMING A STATISTIC. As the commercial used to say, "watch out for the other guy".

[villagetinker]

The design of several of the intersections around TV are in my humble opinion sub par, especially those with 466, 466a and Morse and Buvena Vista. In all of these cases, cars attempting to make LEFT turns from 466 or 466a cannot see around on coming cars make a left from the opposite direction. Even creeping out into the intersection does not provide a good line of sight. Add to this the fact that the traffic is usually 5 to 10 mph above the posted 45 mile speed limit, and it adds up to several very difficult intersections to turn left.
Personally I have decided to wait at the end of the left turn lane until I have clear line of sight, and then make my left turn, even if this means waiting until the next light cycle. I am retired, and not in a hurry to get anywhere, especially in to an accident.
Back up North, the highway engineers recognized this problem, and cut the left turn lane into the island, and left what would be the present left turn lane as a stripped area to stay out of. This solution provides MUCH BETTER line of sight for left turns.

[rubicon]

While I understand the OP's concerns the remedy in my view will back up traffic even more. consider the left turning lanes to Morse from 466 and at the Morse gate and also at rolling Acres Road left turn on 466.

People driving here seemed to have lost their common sense. In a desire to be polite they stop in the middle of the road or turn to accommodate and forget that there are drivers behind them Turn signals are ignored. Some drivers deliberately stay in the left lane on 46, etc at or below the speed limit in some attempt to slow down all traffic. I was trying to pass a guy going under 40 on 466 and when he thought i was closing too fast he slammed on his brakes. No he didn't just tap his brakes he almost can to a complete stop on purpose. all to prevent people from passing him A
guy like that can get a ticket on the Florida Turnpike No I was more than angry and it takes a lot to get me riled up

and if I hear that non sequitur "why are you in a hurry your retired" I am going to scream

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

Originally Posted by kcrazorbackfan

Seriously, what can you expect with 100k residents? No accidents? Maybe where we moved from (Smithville, MO w/ a pop. of 8k residents). Accidents are going to happen with this many people, the "in season", the people that are new residents, new snowbirds, people that have aged in place here and their skills have diminished - YOUR NECK HAS TO BE ON A SWIVEL AT ALL TIMES TO KEEP FROM BECOMING A STATISTIC. As the commercial used to say, "watch out for the other guy".

Exactly. I worked in a small city of 100,000 people 20 miles south of Boston for over 20 years. I'd be surprised if a day went by without some kind of accident. There are probably several ever day.

We are a community of over 100,000 people with three or four 45 mph roads going east to west. It's ridiculous to get all worked up every time there is a little accident. Some people are not god drivers. An extremely large percentage of our driver are very old and perhaps many should not have a license.

I wouldn't want to see red arrows at these intersections. There are too many times, especially in the summer months where you be waiting to make a left turn at a light for no reason. Some impatient people would just go through the light in these cases.

We don't live in a perfect world. As long as there are cars, there are going to be accidents. The more cars, the more accidents. The older (or younger) the drivers, the more accidents we'll have.

[howardandsheila]

We came past this accident minutes after it happened. We were coming west on 466a from Colony.
One contributing factor could easily have been the sun, in the west bound driver's eyes. At that precise time, it was at an angle that made it VERY difficult to see any on-coming traffic. As we CAREFULLY made our left turn to go South on Morse, the sun angle was directly in our eyes. But with time taken, we could see it was clear.
This is NOT meant to be an excuse for the accident. If you can't see clear enough to determine it is clear, then don't proceed.
Just wanted to add another possible contributor to the accident.

[NotGolfer]

Factor in that folks bring their habits (bad and good) with them with the driving. I agree with all the posters with this being a bad intersection, time of day etc. Speed, impatience also factor into situations along with poor "reaction time" and perception of distance. I say use great (emphasis on great) caution when out and about. Snowbirds are here but with Jan. we also will have the renters joining us. I'm only mentioning them because as we all know the changes within our community are rapid. If you leave for any amount of time and come back you all know that's evident with our growth. But when folks are unfamiliar too, it makes for more situations we need to be wary of.

[cquick]

I think this intersection is very well designed and has great sight lines. The accidents that happen there are entirely due to drivers' impatience. Usually the "turn left on green arrow or green light" is fine. People just think they need to get through the intersection whether it's safe or not.

[Polar Bear]

Originally Posted by villagetinker

...Personally I have decided to wait at the end of the left turn lane until I have clear line of sight, and then make my left turn, even if this means waiting until the next light cycle...

Oohoh. Pet peeve time. Even if you want to be ultra conservative and wait for the light to turn (assuring a safe turn), you should proceed into the intersection to do it, not wait at the stop bar. Then you turn after the light changes, assuming you haven't been able to turn sooner. This also allows one or possibly even two more cars, who have also crept past the stop bar, to turn if everybody drives the intersection properly. That's the proper...and safe...way to make left turns on a green ball.

[bagboy]

Maybe I misread something. But I believe that is the worst, and one of the most dangerous pieces of driving advice I have ever, ever seen, heard of, or read.

[Pointer]

The one that I find hard to navigate is trying to make the left turn coming out of Colony onto Morse heading south. The foliage blocks the view of traffic coming down Morse towards 466A so it's hard to judge. I try to go the other way when I can and navigate a left off of 466A onto Morse which can also have an obstructed view if there is a truck in the opposite direction trying to make a left or go straight.

I try to make eye contact with other drivers when doing this so at least I know they see me.

Applying ones brakes to stop in ongoing traffic is extremely dangerous and I can understand how upsetting that situation would be. Talk about Adrenalin, yikes. Good for you for being alert enough to avoid that accident.