We need concerted effort to prevent more deaths, injuries
Who's going to be the last person killed on Route One?
And I'm not talking about car accidents. I'm talking how about the intersection of cars, people and bicycles on a beach traffic road is killing and injuring our citizens.
Route One is not only the road that takes people to the beach; Route One is a highway. Costly measures need to be taken to improve safety on this highway. In the meantime, we can and need to educate people using Coastal Highway about ways to shop, get to work, and enjoy the beach with patience, awareness, intelligence and thoughtfulness about others using the highway for the multi-purposes around them.
This week I witnessed an accident with a car and bicycle in front of Bethany Blues at about 8:30 a.m. I don't know the outcome.
I also witnessed three bicycle and pedestrian traffic violations on Route One during two days of driving to work on the highway. could have been the one to hit the tall, thin young woman, dressed in dark colors, texting as she walked, with traffic, in the bicycle/bus lane, in front of Wells Fargo bank.
Of course there will be accidents, because there always are. But we owe it to our community to educate people about ways to avoid traffic accidents like we use lifeguards at the beach.
Immediate action can be taken to save lives:
Purchase billboard space along Coastal Highway, Route 9 and Route 24 to market driving and pedestrian and bicycle safety - just like the builders do to market housing sales.
Send a mailing to all business chamber members in the Cape Region with a sample announcement to give to their employees about bicycle and pedestrian safety.
Publish a "How to Get to Work ALIVE " transportation guide to enclose in Beach Life and Cape Gazette papers, along with a series of ads to educate drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists.
Long term solutions are indeed the answer, including adding transportation safely to all development plans, including the library in Lewes.
However, by the end of July, some steps can be taken immediately that just might stop or reduce by a few the number of deaths yet to happen on Route One.
Patricia Kirby Gibler
Lewes
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