Pedestrians and cars don't mix
While we await updates on the young girl hit while crossing the street on West Elkhorn today, some common sense observations are in order:
If Elkhorn is going to continue being a major thoroughfare, we need to have a police presence at the Elkhorn-Moraine intersection all the time in the summer, and during spring break/holidays/warmer weekends through the remainder of the year. We don't need an urban assault vehicle or a self-contained SWAT command center - Perhaps we could trade this for two officers’ salaries, with the requirement that they are stationed downtown, on horseback or bicycles or whatever.
Pedestrian (or bicycle, or motorcycle) interactions with automobiles never end well, for the individual(s) struck, for the driver of the car, and for the health of a tourist-based economy. It is very unlikely alcohol was involved, in seems unlikely the angle of the sun interfering with vision was involved, it is just that, all too often, pedestrians cross when they want to cross, because Elkhorn Avenue is seen as a cross where you want street, and vehicles are generally not traveling at speeds that make crossing without paying that much attention all that risky.
So there are two choices, because I think these accidents happen more frequently than Estes Park would like to admit, and more frequently than our newspaper covers them, especially during the height of the tourist season, when bad news just brings everybody down
(1) Either start enforcing the laws about where and when pedestrians can cross Elkhorn (meaning start handing out tickets to locals who violate the rules, because locals are horrible role models, and start putting a constant police presence at the main intersection) or
(2) Build pedestrian bridges over Elkhorn, expending a huge amount up front to eliminate the need for salaried officers paid from now until cars become self-driving.
My guess is, Estes Park is not forward thinking enough, and doesn't have the patience or cooperative ability, to pick the second option. My other guess is, the merchants just won't get to the point where two blocks of Elkhorn are allowed to be blocked off to everything but foot and bicycle traffic.
But let's not have another tragedy, if this encounter ends as badly as it sounded, occur without someone having to answer for it, besides just writing it off to bad luck and blaming the individuals involved doesn’t fix anything. There is no reason, in 2018, for children to be killed by automobiles on our downtown streets. This is not a 24-hour town, or South Padre on steroids. Elkhorn is not a major expressway, and never should be, and shouldn’t be driven as one.
The Loop is all about people who lack patience, and about yielding to their needs for immediate gratification. How about you folks who just moved here, or drove up from Denver on a tight schedule, recognizing this isn't the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and we don't take too kindly to those whose calendar doesn't include slowing down for one of our own.
If Elkhorn is going to continue being a major thoroughfare, we need to have a police presence at the Elkhorn-Moraine intersection all the time in the summer, and during spring break/holidays/warmer weekends through the remainder of the year. We don't need an urban assault vehicle or a self-contained SWAT command center - Perhaps we could trade this for two officers’ salaries, with the requirement that they are stationed downtown, on horseback or bicycles or whatever.
Pedestrian (or bicycle, or motorcycle) interactions with automobiles never end well, for the individual(s) struck, for the driver of the car, and for the health of a tourist-based economy. It is very unlikely alcohol was involved, in seems unlikely the angle of the sun interfering with vision was involved, it is just that, all too often, pedestrians cross when they want to cross, because Elkhorn Avenue is seen as a cross where you want street, and vehicles are generally not traveling at speeds that make crossing without paying that much attention all that risky.
So there are two choices, because I think these accidents happen more frequently than Estes Park would like to admit, and more frequently than our newspaper covers them, especially during the height of the tourist season, when bad news just brings everybody down
(1) Either start enforcing the laws about where and when pedestrians can cross Elkhorn (meaning start handing out tickets to locals who violate the rules, because locals are horrible role models, and start putting a constant police presence at the main intersection) or
(2) Build pedestrian bridges over Elkhorn, expending a huge amount up front to eliminate the need for salaried officers paid from now until cars become self-driving.
My guess is, Estes Park is not forward thinking enough, and doesn't have the patience or cooperative ability, to pick the second option. My other guess is, the merchants just won't get to the point where two blocks of Elkhorn are allowed to be blocked off to everything but foot and bicycle traffic.
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| In the short term, these would certainly help |
But let's not have another tragedy, if this encounter ends as badly as it sounded, occur without someone having to answer for it, besides just writing it off to bad luck and blaming the individuals involved doesn’t fix anything. There is no reason, in 2018, for children to be killed by automobiles on our downtown streets. This is not a 24-hour town, or South Padre on steroids. Elkhorn is not a major expressway, and never should be, and shouldn’t be driven as one.
The Loop is all about people who lack patience, and about yielding to their needs for immediate gratification. How about you folks who just moved here, or drove up from Denver on a tight schedule, recognizing this isn't the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and we don't take too kindly to those whose calendar doesn't include slowing down for one of our own.
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