By Kathleen Sterling
‘Tis the season” … to slow down.
I think the year has flown by so fast for all of us that the holidays didn’t creep up on us – they slammed into us.
Thanksgiving is next week, and we’re now full bore into celebrating the season, and no one is really ready. So we’re all rushing to figure out who’s hosting, what are we bringing, why we didn’t plan earlier, why we didn’t buy gifts all year, why can’t we just cancel all of it!
Last week alone I passed two accidents in Woodland Hills. Two were pretty bad – the injured parties were turning left off Ventura into a business and got t-boned. On our cover we have one that happened just last night on the boulevard.
I was exiting a parking lot last night, and having spent more than the allotted two free hours, I pushed in my ticket, then waited until it spit out and asked for a $2 payment. In between the in – and the out – someone started honking at me. It was literally a 20-second gap.
The rush ended him up at the red light at the end of the parking lot. Lesson not learned, unfortunately.
I always taught my daughter when she was learning to drive to wait five seconds when the light turned green – because someone is always trying to beat the clock and run the red. That five seconds could save you from being t-boned, or as in the case of my friend, ending up in the hospital for two months.
Having grown up in Woodland Hills and worked here for over 40 years, I’ve come to recognize the most dangerous intersections with the most egregious violators.
I’d love reader input, but these seem to see the most accidents:
– Topanga and Ventura – doesn’t matter which direction you’re going, whether north or south on Topanga, east or west on Ventura, turning either direction – it’s a death trap. Literally. It’s also the site of at least three pedestrian deaths in the last 10 years.
– Owensmouth and Califa – scary because the intersection abuts a park where families and children gather, but those traversing that intersection seem to speed through more often than not.
– Ventura and Alhama – right at Trader Joe’s. Not only is this the most congested parking lot in town, and the most dangerous… they had to hire parking security to direct traffic, but this light gets run almost hourly.
– Topanga and Clarendon – just west of the Rite Aid, Starbucks shopping center. Drivers come speeding down Topanga from south of the boulevard and because it’s a long light with both straight-away green lights and left turn signals on every side, people just can’t wait the extra minute and a half.
– Valley Circle and Victory. Valley Circle and Vanowen. Platt and Victory. Platt and Vanowen. Because both Valley Circle and Platt are long, long streets, some drivers use them as a raceway – leading to numerous accidents and at least one death.
So as we head into a holiday season none of us are really prepared for, let’s take the extra minute and slow down. Stop at the red. Give pedestrians the right of way. Let the guy in the next lane cut over. Be patient with the old lady driver going 25 down your residential street. All the things you think are holding you up from getting to work, getting home to dinner, getting errands done.
Think about it. All the above probably take – at most – two minutes out of your life.
But they could save you.
Because the holidays are about being with family. Celebrating those we love, and life.
So let’s make sure you get there alive.
PHOTO: KarynKingdom-Cheers
