Morning Metro: Wine Bar Opening, DeKalb School Must Cut, and a Crying Child
Decatur Metro | May 22, 2012- Wine bar opening below Saba in Emory village [Patch]
- North Druid Hills Road residents want traffic light [MANA]
- DeKalb schools look for cuts to fill $70 million gap [AJC]
- Trees Atlanta hires 100 kudzu-eating sheep [ABC]
- Study shows resilient walkable communities to lead housing recovery [Streetsblog]
- POEM: I Leave Her Weeping – Liz Rosenberg [Poetry Foundation]
Latest from Decaturish
North Druid Hills Road is a danger in this area. Almost 2 weeks ago there was a fatal left of center line accident that killed a pastor. Terrible and gruesome. I think a traffic light would help but I think speeding by drivers coming off 78 and the curve is to blame.
The same issue was occurring in Forsyth County where my parents live (Holtzclaw Road) and they ended up smoothly the curve out to make it straighter and head-ons and rear-enders nearly fell off completely.
Cool website
NorthDruidKills.com
I live on North Druid Hills Road between Clairmont and Spring Creek and I can tell you – trying to turn out of my community is getting more and more difficult and dangerous. The volume of traffic – and the average speed – have both increased greatly in just the last 3 years. I can’t tell you how many times my neighbors have been rear-ended just turning into our driveway. I definitely think some traffic calming measures would help this situation.
Craig – do you have photos/stories? You can add them to the site. I think the solution is a fix for speed and volume. Or add lights where there is a danger and folks will re-route since it will be a gauntlet of stop and start.
N Druid Hills Road was never meant to absorb the volumes of cars that it does coming from Stone Mountain/285. It’s not a state road.
I agree. There isn’t a traffic light between Clarmont and Spring Creek – and the Spring Creek light is almost perpetually green for NDHR drivers – so most of the time, drivers have a mile to gain speed before they hit the next light—which is at the Conservatory Apartments.
I know the Clairmont to Willivee stretch of NDHR is just outside their targeted area, but I sent them an email to ask if they would consider expanding it to include this stretch – which I feel does impact the problems they are experiencing in their area. I also emailed the link to my neighbors. I’m really hoping we can get something done about this.
Couple of points (on and slightly off the specifics of this post).
* Drivers should avoid left turns and certainly avoid blocking one lane of a very busy two lane road. In this case, one of those streets is accessible via Willivee. Even as a simply matter of safety, I would never stop to make that left turn, risking being rear ended. The safer alternative is to drive down to the light. Perhaps this is a pet peeve of mine; but, so often you can see folks making left turns when they can be avoided. I live on Willivee and the same can be said for me making a left turn onto Willivee from N. Decatur Rd. It’s dangerous. If there are on coming cars, I drive on down to Medlock and generally I avoid it all together choosing to enter the area from Desmond. Folks can exercise some choice and pick a safer alternative.
* Regarding the curves of the roads, can anyone explain to me why the intersection of Lavista and N. Druid Hills was done that way. You could not make a more dangerous intersection if you had tried. (Same layout can be found N.Decatur Road and Clairmont).
Stopping to make a left turn is perfectly legal. Drivers *should* obey the law, drive at a safe speed and pay attention to the cars in front of them. It’s one of the first things anyone learns in driver’s ed. You are responsible for maintaining a safe distance from the car in front of you and for being in control of your vehicle.
I live on the corner of Willivee and N. Decatur. I think it’s ridiculous to say that I *should* drive through a residential neighborhood, doubling the distance I travel, and adding traffic to small streets to avoid making a legal left turn that happens to inconvenience people who think it’s their God-given right to drive 50 miles per hour without stopping between lights. My neighbors would, I assume, have to drive up and turn around in commercial parking lot to get into their driveway as it is only accessible from N. Decatur Road.
That being said, I often *do* try to avoid left turns along that road as, I agree, it is not safe. I’ve been honked at for slowing down to make a *right* turn onto Willivee. I just disagree that we should always yield to the preponderance of people who insist on driving fast and dangerously. They are breaking the law.
I don’t mean to say that I am not in favor of additional traffic lights. They are needed. The road, as is, is not designed to handle all the traffic it gets.
I’m not saying a left turn is illegal. I’m saying that it’s costly. Just drive down Peachtree street around 5 pm and watch how many times the left lane is shutdown while someone tries to make a left turn across heavy traffic. I can understand that it’s a hard concept to adjust to; but, as Atlanta grows, old habits need to be replaced. And in the case of N. Druid hills, there’s the added issue of safety. Folks are not expecting traffic which (I think legally) can flow as fast as 40 mph to come to an abrupt stop. File it under defensive driving, something I learned in a motorcycle safety class 20 years ago.
couldn’t dekalb schools just gut the 100000000000000s of main office staff? or would the sorority not allow it?
Can someone tell me what a 2Mill increase will do to an average tax bill in the city of decatur?
Where can one get a kudzu eating sheep?
Liz Rosenberg was one of my favorite professors when I was an undergrad. She’s wonderful. Nice choice!
The sheep are going to be out of a job once the bean plataspids get fully established.