Dangerous at
any speed

3/30/2008

This past week saw another tragedy on Haggerty Road, as an 18 year-old Farmington Hills girl died as the result of a single car accident. Alcohol was not a factor, and the girl was reportedly on her way to see a movie with a friend after baking her little sister cupcakes for her birthday.

This tragic crash occurred south of Ten Mile Road, where the road needlessly narrows from two to one south-bound lane for just a few dozen feet - a scene of frequent near misses that's familiar to most in the area.

It will likely be a while before police finish their investigation, but looking at the crash site, it's easy to discern that the road narrowing was likely a contributing factor in the crash. There are signs indicating the road narrows, but these signs are up near Ten Mile Road, and are easy to miss in traffic. There are no signs where the road narrows, and it's easy to miss the lane ending, especially in low light or low visibility conditions as color of the road and gravel shoulder blend together.

Anyone who frequents Haggerty Road knows there are three places between Nine and Ten Mile where the road briefly narrows, and with traffic zooming along at a good pace the narrowings are frequently the cause of near-misses as vehicles dart in and out. It's been this way for about 20 years now.

Last fall the City of Novi wisely contributed funds to have the county widen the worst of the narrowings - those south of Nine Mile Road. This is something that eluded the county road experts for many years, until the City of Novi wisely directed them to immediately correct the problem. It wouldn't have even happened without Novi's city council and administration taking action.

We the People are not pleased with the county's continued misplaced priorities. Building expensive  roundabouts and spending millions on "smart" traffic lights that don't really help seems easy for the county road bosses. But fixing simple things like a few dozen feet of Haggerty Road eludes them year after year.

The county spends a lot of money annually on roads. It's time to spend some of those funds on the little things that will help prevent future tragedies, and a lot less on fancy roundabouts and computers that just aren't necessary. Until then we continue to say, don't give the county any additional road funds under any circumstances.
 

p.s. - If the county's FAST-TRAC lights are supposed to be so efficient, why is it nearly everyone one of them is red when you reach it? Even if they were totally random you should be able to make close to 50% green...