Send this story Print this story

Adjust text size

Uploaded: Friday, April 10, 2009, 9:07 AM

Woman killed in Edgewood Road crash identified  

Posted by Jon Keeling, a resident of another community, on Apr 12, 2009 at 12:37 pm

I live about 100 feet from where this crash took place.

I helped direct traffic at the same spot one morning

about 8 weeks ago after a car had spun out on the wet

road. I have helped injured passengers and drivers in

the same area multiple times and helped remove a 2 year old

girl from a car that was on its side off the embankment.

A car flipped over onto its roof in my garden, nearly

killing that driver. The former resident of my property

visited recently and explained that many people have died

here due to such accidents over the years.

The flipped car on my property was on a clear, sunny day much

like today. So darkness and rain, along with the occasional

sudden deer-crossing are not the only contributing causes.

Although those conditions should certainly make drivers more

cautious.

Edgewood Park's Old Stage Coach Daycamp area has recently

become a very popular site for families and friends to gather

and many people take advantage of the great hiking trails

in the park. The parking lot is often full and cars are

sometimes parked along the busy street further than

the eye can see, around dangerous curves with barely enough

space for the cars to park, sometimes making the walk to/from

the park life-threatening.

It is clear that the crashes will continue if nothing is done.

MORE PEOPLE WILL DIE. The next time may be a sleepy or young

driver in the rain or at night. Or it may be a child skipping

along the side of the street on her way to the park on a

sunny day. But the fact is that this is a dangerous area of

road as things stand now.

What I have been proposing for years to anyone who would listen

is that a signal be installed at the entrance to Edgewood Park

at this location. It can be simply a constant yellow flashing

light for cars traveling on Edgewood Rd and flashing red for

those exiting the park. In addition, a sign should be placed

in the area, cautioning drivers of the curves. The accidents

in this area have almost exclusively involved cars

traveling eastward, within the first set of curves after

passing the entrance to Edgewood Park. Reduce the speed

limit to 35mph for that area of the road? Maybe that would

help. But something definitely needs to be done, hopefully

soon...

Posted by Greg, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Apr 12, 2009 at 12:56 pm

Unfortunately, all hilly roads with lots of traffic do have lots of accidents. Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park and Page Mill Road in Palo Alto are examples. Most of these accidents occur during daylight hours, so lighting is not the problem. Some people are just driving too fast for conditions, no matter what the speed limits are. People just need to learn to slow down, especially when the roads are wet.

Posted by Greg, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Apr 12, 2009 at 1:00 pm

Also, most people do drive safely on these roads. The unsafe drivers are usually the ones driving too fast and constantly changing lanes to try to pass the safe drivers. Impatience kills.

Posted by Concerned Neighbor, a resident of another community, on Aug 6, 2009 at 3:33 pm

I agree with Jon, there was another head on crash today August 6th 2009, at the same location. I wonder if the county has statistics on the collisions for this stretch.

Good thing the fire department (E18) is close by.