Family and Residents Demand Better Pedestrian Infrastructure Along N. Decatur Road After Death of Jianchang Wu
Decatur Metro | July 1, 2013 | 10:38 am11Alive’s John Gerard reported this morning on the death of Jianchang Wu, who he was hit by a car on North Decatur Road at Landover Drive last month. The video features an heart-wrenching account of the accident from Mr. Wu’s wife and also an interview with neighbors who are now urging the county to improve pedestrian safety along the dangerous section of road.
You can go HERE to watch the segment that aired on 11Alive this morning. You can also view the full interview with the family, which is located below the main story on that page.
As mentioned in the piece, the County has said that they will be sending a traffic investigation unit out to the site this week to review what can be done to slow traffic and improve pedestrian safety. Assistant to both commissioners Jeff Rader and Kathie Gannon have sent notes to 11Alive and neighbors stating “We are going to ask Transportation to get out there next week to take a look at this and then to try to meet with city officials to share information before we have a larger gathering with neighbors. Just need to do some homework, but I will be in touch!”
Stay tuned.
Heartbreaking.
Until the employees and students of Emory and CDC stop regarding North Decatur Road as their personal raceway to work and school, no small changes will help. The video clearly shows an Emory bus speeding down the road while cars zip by.
But as long as plans are in place to run a streetcar wannabe down the middle, nothing permanent will be done.
If you restrict the amount of space for cars and buses it won’t be a raceway. Give back part of the public right of way to peds and bikes, cars and buses will slow down and fewer people will die. This can be done with paint and pylons. A future light-rail line should not prevent this from happening. It will just take open ears, eyes, minds, wallets at DeKalb and GA DOT. It all needs to happen.
Having lived in Boston for twenty years–most of those in proximity to the Green (above ground trolley with cars sharing lanes with metal behemoths weighing hundreds of tons that only LOOK like big Tonka toys) Line, I can tell y’ze that to the kind of drivers discussed in this thread, trolleys are just moving slalom markers.
Sounds like a great idea except there is no room on North Decatur for bike/ped lanes. The road is too narrow as it is.
It’s obviously not too narrow to drive too fast. There are plenty of ways to re-design this street to meet the needs of cars, bikes and pedestrians. With a bike death just down the street not too long ago and now this, a skilled professional planner can design a solution. It’s not impossible and needs to happen.
“there is no room on North Decatur for bike/ped lanes”
Unless you widen the road or reduce the number of lanes. The first may not be practical given the proximity of the houses to the current roadway. To prevent horrible bottlenecks leaving CDC and Emory (and the dangers created by additional traffic), maybe a reversible lane would work. But, I will leave that to the experts.
As one of the neighbors interviewed in this segment, this was a heartbreaking meeting and something I hope no other family has to ever experience. It was a very preventable, and tragic loss. We’re working with PEDS and Commissioner Rader and Commissioner Gannon to address the safety issues on this stretch. This is the second fatality in a year and one of several other serious accidents on N. Decatur between Willivee and Landover. It wouldn’t hurt if the commissioners heard from other concerned neighbors to keep the momentum going on improving safety along this road. Power in numbers!!
Thank you, Leigh.
I think if you look back you will recall that Georgia DOT had a hand in this neglect when it proposed the Stone Mountain Freeway extension through these neighborhoods. This “freeway” would have been built through Druid Hills and connect SMF with what is now Presidential Parkway. The proposal was defeated and now we have freeway-volume traffic loads creating dangerous conditions on residential surface streets. The results of this neglect are shameful. Tom Moreland’s Phony Freeway is how I remember it being described. This is a problem on other area streets, too. Road diet on N. Druid Hills would exacerbate problems on Scott, LaVista and Briarcliff. There are simple ways to change driving behavior, including education, business cooperation, reduced speed limits, and enforcement.
I live on N Decatur just east of the city limits. People FLY on the road all the time! I joke with my about having speed humps installed overnight and watch the cars literally fly.
But seriously, bike lanes, sidewalk on both sides, or whatever- I’m in. Even if it means giving up a few feet of my precious front yard, if it slows down traffic and makes is safer for peds and cyclists I’d be happy to do it.
Maybe we can get the Walmart development to kick in some funds to make that stretch safer- and I’m not just talking about a “Your Speed is XX” lighted traffic sign.
It will take a change in the mindset of drivers to affect the changes you desire. It will work with enough effort.
You have to slow down Emory/CDC employees. I have it on excellent authority that nurses drove around an accident victim laying in the road rather than stop and render aid.
You think that mindset gives a damn about slowing down for pedestrians or residents?
North Decatur west of there is already on a diet. One lane each way with a turn lane and bike lanes on each side is already working there. Reversible lanes are a joke…take a look at the history east of Stone Mountain Freeway on 78 and see what it does. Bumpouts and other “traffic calming” methods only make things worse for cyclists, forcing them in and out of the roadway.