INDIANAPOLIS — At 10th Street and West Park Way on the city's west side, Robin Beasley explained she's seen crash after crash happen and nothing is being done to keep people safe.
"I myself have dodged a couple of them, thank God," Beasley said. "But I would say every week, every two weeks, and there's some very serious ones at that. And, I'm just scared to death somebody's going to get really hurt."
On either side of 10th Street near Country Club Road are two apartment complexes where residents are coming in and out all day long.
"I feel very scared," Beasley said. "I don't even go out this way. I will turn toward that gas station and I have to turn around every day. My mom won't even come see me because she's scared. She's like, "I've almost got hit out there and I'm not doing it and I'm not going over there."
Beasley lives and works at one of the apartment complexes. She explained how the traffic is so bad pulling out onto 10th Street can be nearly impossible during rush hour.
One woman even sent a picture of the damage done to her car to WRTV when she collided with another driver last month.
"I've got several residents here that have had crashes," she said. "One last week. They hit head-on with somebody over there from 10 West. It was pretty bad. Then our sign out here, that's also been affected. It's been mowed over during an accident. So it's just really scary."
She has requested the Mayor's Action Center to take a look at this intersection problem, but to no avail.
"I have put in several Mayor's Action hotline. I've had a lot of my residents call and ask if there's anything we can do," Beasley explained. "Maybe we do a petition or something. They've all been ignored. Nothing's happened, so that's why I reached out to you [WRTV]."
Beasley and other concerned members of the community are pushing for a traffic light to be added to the intersection. They say it would be beneficial for everyone driving in the area and keeping people safe.
It's past time," Beasley said. "We've been working at this for a while. I've been working here for three years and have been really trying to get some assistance and nothing's taken place, so I'm hoping for the best now."
The problem has been brought to the attention of the Department of Public Works to try to figure out if anything can be done for these people. DPW's traffic engineers are assessing crash and volume counts to see if the intersection warrants any action.
That's because based on their criteria, to have a traffic signal installed at an intersection based on crashes, it must meet the following the qualify:
- Other methods of traffic control have failed;
- There must be 5 or more crashes of the same type in 12 months that can be corrected with a traffic signal;
- Traffic volume must be 80% per hour on both major and minor streets within an eight-hour period.
