THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 8, 1996 TAG: 9602080005
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
Regarding ``Safety first'' (editorial, Jan. 29): We are among the multitude of reader/taxpayers who believe the Virginia Beach authorities must be required to think again - and to defer the precipitous (even captious, and certainly irreversible) action of cutting down 345 trees on Shore Drive.
Surely, other actions more effective and costing less than a million dollars should be tried before cutting down the trees. Teenagers die every day running off roads in Nebraska and Kansas where there isn't a tree in sight.
Problem solutions are found, as your readers have demonstrated better than the tree cutters, as a result of analyzing causes. In this case the cause is certainly not the presence of trees. The causes can be considered in two categories: those related to the terrain and those related to the situation. In the first category are inadequate signage, unbanked turns, limited visibility. In the second category are excessive speed, impaired judgment, inadequate monitoring.
That kind of a breakdown allows us, then, to consider an array of possible actions that might be applied in each area, their relative costs, inter-relationships and sequencing, rapidity of implementation and reporting of results achieved.
Still another consideration is that section of Shore Drive runs through First Landing State Park and borders federal property at Fort Story. What do those authorities have to say?
I've been passed in that 55-mph section by 40-year-olds speeding at 70 mph almost as often as I have by drivers of every age exceeding, wildly, the 35-mph limit on the southern section of Shore Drive.
Why not simply:
Reduce the speed limit (at least) to 45 mph - and enforce it.
Add several signs (in each direction) that flash the message, ``You are speeding!'' when their electronic sensors so determine.
Increase police surveillance; take decisive/punitive action with speeders; publish the results for all to see.
Chopping down 345 trees is no solution. Obviously, responsive actions must be taken soon. Clearly, the more appropriate immediate actions are among the many suggested by your readers.
RICHARD S. REED
EDITH M. REED
Virginia Beach, Feb. 3, 1996 by CNB