Traffic Consultants Make Recommendations to Improve Safety in Scarsdale

Are speeding drivers, careless pedestrians and cyclists and inadequate signage posing a danger to Scarsdale residents? Should speed limits be lowered, more signs and bike lanes added to make Scarsdale safer? In response to concerns about traffic and pedestrian safety outlined in a November 2015 report from the Scarsdale Forum's Municipal Services Committee, the Village of Scarsdale instructed the police to step up traffic enforcement and also hired a traffic consultant to study the issues that were raised about many locations around the Village.

Police took their job seriously and caught many drivers in the village off guard during the first half of this year. So if you got a ticket in Scarsdale Village from the Scarsdale Police in the first half of 2016, it may have been due to this enforcement initiative that increased ticketing for the following offences:

• Failure to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks
• Failure to comply with traffic regulations (stop sign, red light)
• Distracted driving violations (phone usage)
• Failure to wear a seatbelt.

A report issued in July 2016 shows that for the first six months of 2016, police gave out a total of 412 citations for the violations listed above as compared to 250 for the first half of 2015, a 65% increase.

Police also deployed a speed wagon to track driving speeds at three locations in Quaker Ridge where the Forum reported there were problems with speeding. It turned out that people were not speeding – in fact, 90% of drivers were going under the speed limit with the remaining 10% drivers within 5mph of the limit. The monitored locations were Franklin Road and Harvest Drive, Heathcote and Stratton Roads and Penn Boulevard.

As a second step, consultants TRC Engineers of Hawthorne analyzed safety in the Village and in Quaker Ridge and delievered a report and recommendations to Village Managers in July. The engineers were invited to present their results at a meeting on Tuesday night October 26. The report can be viewed on the Village website here:

Scarsdale Village: Because of traffic coming over the Popham Road Bridge and the presence of the train station, the pedestrian crossings at Popham and Chase Roads as well as Popham and Overhill Roads have been safety trouble spots.

The engineers observed and monitored pedestrians attempting to cross Popham Road in the Village, "especially those that are mobility-challenged or impaired and senior citizens who sometimes struggle to cross Popham Road in the allotted pedestraian phasing time."

They recommended a few alternatives for improving safety for pedestrians crossing these three intersections: Chase Road at Popham Road, Popham Road at Chase Road and Popham Road at East Parkway.

In order to give pedestrians more time to cross and to increase the visibility of the crosswalks for drivers the recommended the following alternatives:

• Extended Flashing Don't Walk Time which simply involves changing the timing on the "Don't Walk" signage.
• Colored/high visibility crosswalk: Consultants recommend that striping and wording be added to the pavement before the crosswalk to warn drivers to slowdown or stop before the crosswalk.
• Addition of a traffic signal on the right hand side of westbound Popham Road just before the crosswalk to enforce stopping and reduce the number of drivers who stop in the crosswalk because the existing stoplights are further ahead.
• Lane assignments: Consultants recommend adding a sign that indicates lane assignments on westbound Popham Road before Chase Road to establish appropriate lane assignments, especially the right turn lane.
• Installation of "Turning Vehicles Yield to Pedestrians" and "No Turn on Red Signs" adjacent to the traffic signals.
• Installation of backplates or rectangular shields that fit behind the traffic lights to help with the glare.
• Addition of blinking pedestrian signs with passive detection that blink when a person is walking between two signs – or crossing the street.
• Additional street lighting could be added

The consultants also analyzed the intersections of Crane and Fox Meadow Road and Crane and Stonehouse Roads and found them both to be "acceptable," but made several suggestions for improving safety there including removing bushes and vegetation that obstruct the sightlines, adding a yellow sign that says "intersection ahead," on eastbound Crane Road between Fox Meadow and Stonehouse Roads to let drivers know that people may be crossing as well as an additional sign at the intersection of Crane Road and East Parkway that would say "Traffic Exiting Parkway Does Not Stop."

The report goes on to make similar recommendations for many intersections in West Quaker Ridge including intersections with Weaver Street. You can read the entire report here.