Enforcement waaaaay up on Davidson-Concord Rd after speed limit lowered

Tuesday's Davidson Town Board meeting brought an update on pedestrian safety from Chief Miller and Public Information Officer Christina Shaul.

One of the big topics was the impact of the lower speed limits on Davidson-Concord Road implemented in June.  That's when speed limits were reduced to no more than 45mph and down to 35mph starting at the Beaver Dam House coming into town.

Accidents were compared from June 1st through late September for both 2015 and 2016.  As you can see there was actually 1 more accident during the period this year.  It's hard to say if speed was a major factor in any of them.

What was definitely true is that enforcement was way up.  Increasing enforcement was actually a condition of NCDOT lowering the speed limit.

In 2015 only one ticket was written on the road.  This year?  36 tickets and 17 warnings were written!

As someone who lives on the road and drives it every day, it seems noticeably safer from a speed perspective.

But don't say you weren't warned.  The DPD is definitely watching!

2015 Accidents

1.       07 19 2015 @ 1816 hours.  Davidson Concord Road @ Parting Oaks Lane.  Vehicle #1 left Parting Oaks and pulled into oncoming traffic from Davidson Concord Road, striking Vehicle #2 in the right rear.  No injuries.

2.       07 02 2015 @ 1732 hours.  Davidson Concord Road @ East Rocky River roundabout.  Vehicles #1 and #2 were northbound on Davidson Concord Road.  As Vehicle #2 approached the roundabout, they slowed, yielding to traffic in the roundabout.  Vehicle #1 failed to reduce speed and collided with Vehicle #2.  Medic called to the scene.  No transport.

3.       08 31 2015 @ 0836 hours.  Davidson Concord Road @ NC 73.  Vehicle #2 was stopped on Davidson Concord Road, waiting for oncoming traffic.  Vehicle #1 struck Vehicle #2 in the left rear when it failed to stop.

2016 Accidents

1.       07 14 2016 @ 1544 hours.  Davidson Concord Road @ Barnhardt Road.  Vehicle #2 was stopped waiting to make a turn onto Barnhardt Road.  Vehicle #1 failed to slow, striking Vehicle #2 in the rear.  Both vehicles sustained major damage rendering them inoperable.

2.       06 17 2016 @ 0605 hours.  Davidson Concord Road @ Appolinaire Drive.  Vehicle #1 was traveling north on Davidson Concord Road.  Driver stated that an animal ran in front of her vehicle.  She veered off to the right side of the road, colliding with a metal Caution sign, damaging the right side door and rear quarter panel.

3.       07 22 2016 @ 1649 hours.  Davidson Concord Road @ NC 73.  Vehicle #1 was traveling south on Davidson Concord Road.  Vehicle #2 was stopped due to vehicular traffic on NC73.  Vehicle 1 struck Vehicle #2 in the rear.

4.       07 29 2016 @ 1714 hours.  Davidson Concord Road @ June Washam Road.  Vehicle #1 pulled off the roadway to make a U-turn.  Vehicle #2 continued with its northbound travel.  Vehicle #2 was  struck in the front left corner by Vehicle #1.

Lower Speeds + Better Enforcement = Safer Davidson Concord Road

Last week marked one month since NCDOT lowered the speed limits along the length of Davidson-Concord Road on Davidson's east side.

Regular readers will remember the story which was covered extensively at aShortChronicle.

After publishing citizen video coverage of how harrowing the road had become, the long simmering issue of high speeds and dangerous pedestrian crossings finally got the attention it deserved.  Television media covered the issue and State elected officials got involved. Frustrated citizens then descended on Town Hall in May and June.

At the June meeting something unexpected happened.  NCDOT engineer Scott Cole did a 180 on the plan the agency had published just days before for the most dangerous part of the road for pedestrians.

On June 17th, the speeds were lowered and new signs went up.  As part of the deal to get speeds lowered sooner, Davidson agreed to increased enforcement.

Information provided by the Town shows a marked reduction in accidents along with increased enforcement in the corridor during the one month after the speeds dropped.

Data for June 17-July 17, 2016:

There were 6 citations and 5 warnings issued during that time frame and 1 accident.

The crash took place on Davidson Concord Rd. where it intersects with Apollinaire Dr.  It was a single car accident and the driver lost control of her vehicle when swerving to avoid hitting an animal that ran out in front of her.

Data for May 16- June 16, 2016:

There was 1 warning issued during that time frame and 0 citations. There were  4 accidents.

One accident was caused by a vehicle running off of the road and hitting another vehicle while overcorrecting (Davidson Concord Rd. @ Parting Oaks Ln.).  Another accident took place when a driver turned in front of another car and was struck (Davidson Concord Rd. @ Robert Walker Dr.).  Another accident occurred due to a driver failing to yield the right away to another vehicle before turning and they collided (Davidson Concord Rd. @ Robert Walker Dr.). Lastly, a vehicle rear ended another vehicle (Davidson Concord Rd. @ Barnhardt Rd.)

At the June meeting NCDOT argued against lowering the speed in the pedestrian heavy area because it could actually make it more dangerous.  The less than obvious logic was that an artificially low speed limit might lead to inconsistent driver speeds making it more uncertain when crossing the road.

When asked last week for a comment on the changes after a month of data, here's what the DPD had to say.

“We believe the speed limit reductions on Davidson-Concord Road make that part of town safer for pedestrians, bike riders, and motorists,” said Davidson Police Lt. Steve Ingram. “Our officers will continue to enforce the new limits.”

Based on the lower number of accidents it would appear DPD rather than NCDOT is right on this one.

A prime example of citizen activism

There’s a reason for the saying “you can’t fight city hall”.  It’s hard!

To get what they want citizens need perseverance, organization, and a willingness to push.  The recent successful effort to lower speed limits on Davidson-Concord Road provides a prime example.

To be fair, local residents weren’t so much “fighting town hall” in this case as the Town of Davidson had previously asked to have the speed limit lowered. The problem was that when NCDOT said “no” on each occasion, the town did not force the issue.

The situation came to a head this Spring when multiple videos surface showing harrowing scenes near a school bus stop in the area and as the new West Branch neighborhood proposed over 300 new residences on the Westmoreland Farm adjacent to the already dangerous Robert-Walker Drive intersection.

So, what did residents do?

In the interest of transparency, I was involved in some of the activities that follow,, but all of the heavy lifting was done by many other citizens.

Residents organized multiple trips to town hall leading to two packed meetings in May and June.  They worked with the media to bring the issue more attention.  They showed tremendous courage in speaking truth to power.  Most importantly, they did public records requests.

The public records request may be the sharpest arrow in the activist’s quiver.  The results of these requests provide information.  They shed light on who said what to who and when they said it
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In this case it, these requests showed many interesting things.  Here are just a couple.

The public record showed on multiple occasions in 2013 and 2014, citizens asked the town how they could get involved.  Should they go to their legislative representatives?  Could they help with gathering petitions?

In at least three different situations during this time period, Mayor John Woods told different residents that if NCDOT did not agree to lower the speeds, the town would engage the citizens for these activities.  That never happened.

Why?

In another thread, the record shows NCDOT actually being open to the idea of lower speeds around Robert-Walker Drive contingent on the installation  of a roundabout.  However, the discussion was related to the proposed West Branch development and on street parking – not as a pedestrian safety initiative.  This conversation involved NCDOT and the developers, including Commissioner Brian Jenest whose firm is doing the project’s design.  Somehow, that information did not make it to the town board as a whole for nearly three months?

Again, why?

The answers as to “why” are not in the public record, but it does show the mounting pressure having an impact.

The first records request went in on May 3rd.  On May 4th, State Rep John Bradford posted on Facebook that he had been contacted by Davidson Mayor Pro Tem Beth Cashion on the issue.  He said “I’m ready to help.  I don’t know what can be done, but I’m willing to learn.”

That contact to state electeds appears to have been the turning point.

After the May 10th town hall meeting, Bradford again posted to Facebook saying he was coordinating with the State Engineer at NCDOT to have a closer look at the issue.  Shortly thereafter, State Engineer Kevin Lacy spent a Sunday and Monday in the area, and before the June 14th meeting the decision was made to lower the speeds along the entire length of the road including the area at Robert-Walker - without a roundabout.

Still though, the activists work wasn’t done.  NCDOT had made the speed reduction to 35mph by Robert-Walker contingent on the West Branch development being 25% occupied – potentially delaying it many months, if not years.

It took another trip to town hall and another round of impassioned speeches to  NCDOT Rep Scott Cole who was in attendance to get the speed limit lowered immediately.

As of last Thursday, the new speed limit signs are up.

Should it have been this hard?  No, it shouldn’t have.  In the end however, it yielded the results citizens were seeking - making it all worth it.

This post first appeared in this week's edition of the Herald Weekly at HuntersvilleHerald.com 

#DavidsonConcordSpeedway No More: Lower speed limits posted on Thursday

Moving at what can only be described as lightning fast speed for a large government agency, NCDOT workers posted lower speeds along the length of Davidson-Concord Road on Thursday.

This comes just two days after the Board meeting described in the previous post where residents implored the agency to not wait and tie the lower speed to the West Branch development.

At the Tuesday meeting after the public hearing there was a rapid fire discussion with multiple points discussed about enforcement, the technicalities of how speed limits are set, and even an arcane discussion of the "default" speed limits for  municipalities involving exactly which parcels of land along the road are  (and are not) within the town limits.

In the end though it boiled down to this.  The town sent the below letter.

The letter asks for speed limits according to the below map.

And NCDOT made the changes.

When asked to explain the change in approving the 35mph starting at the Beaver Dam House heading into town, NCDOT Engineer Scott Cole had this to say.

"We approved the speed limit reduction to 45mph and to 35mph prior to the meeting, but we're really discussing the details of the timing of the reduction.  We had proposed reducing the speed limits as the proposed development was to come on line.  The Town Commissioners and therefore the Town proposed and expressed through their resolution, that they wanted the reduction to 35mph to occur immediately.  We respected the Town's wishes on timing and moved to implement immediately.  The signs should be in place at this time."

And that they are, for which many in town are very thankful.

Drivers should also know that at the meeting Chief Miller said "35 means 35!", so don't say you weren't warned!

#DavidsonConcordSpeedway - Citizen pressure works to get the right things done.

The first major topic at Tuesday night's marathon Davidson Board meeting was an update from NCDOT on safety improvements.

The update from Division 10 Engineer Scott Cole began with informing the town that the crossing signals in downtown David son were being set to use a 3 second LPI or Leading Pedestrian Interval to allow pedestrians to cross before cars get a green light.

This change comes after the tragedy on Main Street where local resident Janet McFadden was struck and killed in the crosswalk by Flatiron restaurant.

An LPI of 3 seconds, should reduce accidents by 60% and reduce the severity of any that do occur according to Cole.  The obvious question of why not make it 5 or 6 seconds to make it even safer was not made clear.  However, this is definitely an improvement and one that was to go into effect immediately.  In fact NCDOT workers could be seen working on the lights at almost 10pm Tuesday night.

But the real show on pedestrian safety had to do with the Davidson-Concord Speedway.

We told you about the press release last Friday where NCDOT planned to lower the speed on "the DCS" to 45 for the whole length of the road.  We also told you that did not address the most dangerous part of the road for pedestrians.  We told you local residents would not be happy about that, or safety improvements being tied to Commissioner Brian Jenest's development at West Branch.

They weren't.

During the public comment section a parade of people came up to implore NCDOT to lower the speed limit and to lower it now!

Starting with Don and Jennifer Stewart whose son was hit at the Robert Walker intersection three years ago and running through more several speakers, one after another residents recounted stories of near misses, increasing traffic, and anecdotes proving why lower speed will work to make it safer.

One speaker roped in Police Chief Jeanne Miller who was in attendance.  Chief Miller agreed with the residents that she wanted it to be 35 on that road.

Another speaker recounted how he had just returned from New York City where the city has made the entire city 25mph if you are not on a highway.  The change wasn't phased in over time apparently.  It was done to save lives and pedestrian fatalities are down significantly.

But the highlight was resident Jana Watt who has been one of the citizen leaders in the recent push to get this situation fixed.  Watt gave one of the best citizen presentations at a public forum you will ever see.  You are strongly urged to watch this video.  Its about 9 minutes.

Click HERE for video.

Watt dismantled pretty much any and all arguments for not lowering the speed limit in the pedestrian area now.  She raised lots of questions about who is representing who between the town, developers, and NCDOT when it comes to development.  She repeatedly mentioned public records requests.

It was brutal and it was beautiful to watch at the same time.

When the public hearing was over, the tide had turned.  After a few questions from Commissioners and in what genuinely seemed like a surprise move to the Board, Cole agreed to lowering the speed with increased enforcement from the town.

The timing and exact details of the change are still being verified.  Check back for another post on that hopefully by the end of the week.

Others deserve credit for this change as well.  Rep John Bradford and Davidson Mayor Pro Tem Beth Cashion in particular.