Time to practice what I preach. Open mindedness, tollerance, looking for what’s fact not fiction, no matter the source.
I have posted hundreds of articles about actions of people that I do not agree with. Some of those activities I have felt were unconscionable, and despicable, but I have always said it wasn’t about personal hate, or malice toward any of those individuals. Do I personally dislike many of them? Yes, but It was simply about spreading the truth. Spreading facts to try and dispute the non-facts of others. Getting information out that could help to change a bad situation into a better one, But what happens when one of the people you have spent the most time in complete disagreement with shares something that is a valid and a serious concern. Are we adult enough to have more concern for the greater good then our own personal distaste for that person? Can we let down the wall of separation and find a common ground? In this particular persons case I would answer absolutely not, but yet I find myself writing this post. Struggling to figure out a way to share the info without crediting the original poster. How can I share the information he has without lending any sort of credibility to him? I am not adult enough apparently to accept some common ground with a man I have spent a decade being disgusted by, yet here I am still typing. My distaste doesn’t change the fact that he has raised a concern that if I had to guess many of us have been taking for granted, or overlooking because of other more current issues.
Lately we have discussed safety concerns around our schools. Specifically the flashing stop signs and their removal, for what appears to be nothing more then making a single voter happy. It may seem to have gotten some greater focus then it normally would have, but Isn’t it human nature to focus so directly on something that you completely miss something at least as serious? Of course it is, it happens every day in every subject. Specifically during a political cycle. It’s also not uncommon that we forget about something that has been discussed before at length.
Lightning may strike me down, and I may be damned to an eternity of ridicule and hate for simply saying I agree with the person who sparked this post, but he has a valid point on this specific subject.
Pedestrians safety is in jeopardy at scott and irving in Schiller Park
Scott and Irving is a major street crossing used by Schiller Park residents going to and from the pool all summer and to a lesser extent numerous pedestrians cross there on a daily basis the remainder of the year.
The crossing is unmarked and does not comply with IDOT regulations because there is no continuation of sidewalk from one side of Irving Park Road to the other side; the crossing provides no continuity for the pedestrians.
The intersection is at a location where drivers going east bound on Irving Park Road are reducing speed from 40 mph to 35 mph; while west bound traffic is being permitted to accelerate from 35 mph to 40 mph with many cars accelerating to merge on to the northbound TriState 294.
Eastbound traffic is distracted by the traffic lights at Judd and Irving just a half a block from pedestrians crossing at Scott and westbound traffic attention is drawn to the traffic light overlooking the pedestrians crossing at Scott Street.
East and west bound on traffic on Irving Park road have no regulatory signs warning of pedestrians crossing at Scott and Irving, let alone vehicular cross traffic.
Easily east and west bound traffic on Irving Park Road are usually operating at a minimum 10 mph over the speed limit; meaning pedestrians are easily facing at times 55 mph traffic as they attempt to cross Irving Park Road.
Drivers are warned about the cemetery entrance and the divided highway ahead; but drivers are not warned about pedestrians.
There are marked crossings at Stalica Park and at the Recreation Center BUT NOT at Scott and Irving.
Scott and Irving has seen a number traffic accidents each year, with some having resulted in serious injuries and fatalities, but little has been done to identify the crossing and warn drivers of pedestrians.
The Village provides a crossing guard most of the time that the Montana Water Park and Memorial Pool is open. But the Village employee faces the same disadvantages that the pedestrians encounter.
I personally was hit twice while crossing children in the 1970’s and ironically hit again in 2014 as I tried to divert a car from hitting a mother crossing with her children. As circumstances would be had no drivers license and left the scene only to be apprehended later.
The deficiencies are as unfair to the drivers as they are dangerous to the pedestrians.
What remains confounding is the outrage and pursuit of concerns regarding flashing stop signs around the schools, that have no accidents and no injuries reported at Village Board meetings and school board meetings; but the SD81 and Schiller Park have allocated thousands of dollars in grant funds for flashing stop signs. Yet there is no mention or pursuit by anyone to improve the safety at Scott St and Irving Park Road.
What will it take to engage the full participation of the elected officials, school district and Village administrative staff and residents to pursue a responsible safety solution at this intersection. So far it has been almost 50 years since the pool was opened and no one has provided the leadership to resolve this safety quagmire.
But yet the bickering continues over flashing red stop signs at intersections near the schools. Let’s move on address an intersection which children are crossing a highway with cars traveling at 55 mph, with no marked intersection and no regulatory signs warning the drivers of pedestrians.
These conditions at the intersection on a daily basis threaten the lives of our residents; and place unsuspecting motorists in an awful position which could result in a life altering tragedy for the driver.
I can not bring myself to share the link to the original post, and I apologize for that. It seems I may not be as noble as I felt I was, but the fact remains that the person who shared this is not wrong. This is a very serious issue to all residents of Schiller Park, and even more so to the Children who may not have the same experience crossing a street as an adult does. This particular crossing is a bad one, and presents another significant risk to all the residents of Schiller Park that has seemingly been ignored. It is also not the only one in our community, but who is responsible for improving the safety of those that cross these streets? IDOT? The village? Both?
I want to state again that this crossing at Irving and Scott st is not the only particularly unsafe crossing in this community, it should also not diminish the seriousness of reducing safety to residents simply for the purpose of pleasing one voter by removing a newly installed flashing stop sign. It’s an additional example of misplaced village priorities.
Additionally we can not ignore the other safety concerns that affect our community. Speeding in Schiller Park is another subject that I see brought up particularly often, and that is not the only other example. Yet we seem to be more concerned with the placement of a night club then the safety of our fellow Schiller Parkers. How many children and residents in this community need to get hit before something is done? That is what I want to know from our current mayor, and what she is planing to do about it. It is after all an election season, but I want to know what she will do right now not later to keep our community as safe as she can from these threats to our safety.
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