
DATE: Wednesday, October 8, 1997            TAG: 9710080504

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   99 lines

A COMMUNITY CONTINUES ITS QUEST FOR TRAFFIC SAFETY

Cheree Coley never saw the car that hit her.

The 6-year-old had just paid the ice cream man for a cold cone and was walking back across Godfrey Avenue to her home when she was struck Sept. 15. She suffered a concussion and a broken leg, says her mother, Cheryl Coley.

The accident happened 2 1/2 months after 231 residents of the Bowling Green public housing neighborhood petitioned city traffic officials to take steps to stem speeding along the community's main artery.

Cheree was the third child struck by a vehicle along Godfrey this year, residents say, and at least one was hit last year. Police have a record this year only of a pedestrian accident in January.

There are no speed limit signs, stop signs, crosswalks or speed bumps in Bowling Green.

Residents say the city is dragging its feet. A city traffic official said the improvements are bottlenecked at the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, but the NRHA says it turned the issue of speed bumps back to Public Works and didn't know signs were an issue.

Vincent Bell, whose children live on Godfrey, spearheaded the June petition drive. He detailed his concerns in a letter that accompanied the petition, citing the case of 3-year-old Keyonta Craddock, who was hit by a car that month.

To his queries, Bell says he's gotten verbal assurances that the situation will be remedied, but he and other Bowling Green residents are still waiting.

``Every time the time comes around, it doesn't happen,'' Bell said this week.

Grover Edmunds, the city's traffic investigator, said Tuesday that he recently recommended stop and yield signs at three Godfrey intersections, as well as 25-mph speed limit signs throughout Bowling Green.

Guzin Akan, acting chief traffic engineer for the city, said speed limit signs would go up ``in a week or so,'' and stop signs, which need City Council's approval, within ``four to six weeks.''

Lamont Freeman, who manages Bowling Green for the NRHA, said original results of electronic tests taken indicated there was neither sufficient traffic nor speed to allow for bumps. He said tests will be redone.

In Bowling Green, others attested to the danger.

``Most of them just shoot through,'' said Reginald Hibbler, his words almost drowned out by the gunning of a motor as a car sped past on Godfrey. ``See? You stand here a few minutes, you might see some go through faster than that.''

Godfrey Avenue snakes south for about a half-mile between east-west running Princess Anne Road and Virginia Beach Boulevard, forming a shortcut between the two routes, residents say. Car-lined Godfrey curves back and forth just enough to limit the view of the road ahead but not enough to slow traffic.

It's anybody's guess who has the right of way at the intersection of Godfrey and Hollister avenues. And at the ``T'' intersections where Mapleton Avenue and Dogan Street come into Godfrey, a driver can just hang a right or left without coming to a halt.

Where Hollister Avenue leaves the neighborhood along its western perimeter, there's a deep dip in the pavement that should act as an inadvertent and inverted speed bump, but it doesn't.

``Whoomp,'' goes a car over it at a good clip, its bumper grating on the pavement.

Bell, a father who lives in Calvert Square and works in a juvenile correction center near Richmond, called the city in mid-August to ask what traffic investigators had determined. He says he was told then, and twice since, that the sign work has been ordered.

``It's kids' lives vs. money,'' says Bell. ``I thought the (June) letter would hit them in the head, but they don't move.''

Diane Clark, a Bowling Green resident, said speed bumps would help. She watched from a lawn chair as another car came ripping down the street.

``They go through at 35, should be 5 to 15,'' said Latoya Lee, another resident.

Lakema Fuford, who also lives in the neighborhood, had another idea. ``What would help is if they'd watch their kids,'' she said, as a car zig-zagged down Godfrey, dodging parked cars. ``They need to be supervised by somebody older.''

Today, Cheree Coley is out of her cast but still walks with a limp. Residents of Bowling Green think it's only a matter of time before there's a fatality.

``It's dangerous for adults to cross that street,'' says Bell. ``Is someone liable for these kids getting hurt?'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

GARY C. KNAPP

Cheree Coley, 6, holds a water balloon, not far from where she was

struck by a car on Godfrey Avenue in Norfolk. Bowling Green

residents have demanded speed limit signs, stop signs and speed

bumps.

Graphic

TRAFFIC TROUBLES

The petition

The accident

The future

[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]