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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 9, 1997)
IP I i wH g4 I Texas A & M University i.. '' « I k .#«» v "I* i || * Km ST TODAY 69 TOMORROW ITH YEAR • ISSUE 70 • 14 PAGES COLLEGE STATION • TX See extended forecast. Page 2. TUESDAY • DECEMBER 9 • 1997 An accident waiting to happen eports blame collisions on haphazard drivers, congested roadways The sheer volume i f vehicles traveling ftirough that area jresents numerous opportunities for ccidents to occur." Lt. Scott McCollum iDit:College Station Police Dept. By Robert Smith Senior staff writer More accidents occur on Briarcrest Drive than on any other street in Bryan, according to reports by the Bryan Police Department. The BPD reported that 71 automobile accidents have occurred this year on Briarcrest as of Nov. 30, not including Briarcrest intersections. Four of the top five high collision areas in Bryan are on Briar crest addresses. Sgt. Choya Walling of the BPD said Briarcrest Drive is consistently heavily congested in traffic. “There is a high volume of traffic on Briarcrest,” Walling said. “It is the largest east-west street in Bryan.” Walling said the opening of Blinn College last year increased the traf fic on Briarcrest. The BPD have reported 1,760 auto collisions this year, through Nov. 30. The intersection at E. Frontage SSH 6 Road and Briarcrest has been the scene of 20 auto collisions this year, more than any oth er intersection. Walling said that some of the accidents on Briarcrest occur when drivers illegally use the middle lane. “More and more people are using that middle left turn lane as an ac celeration lane,” Walling said. “The more that people use it that way, the more opportunity there is for an accident.” Nineteen auto collisions have occurred this year at North Texas Av enue and East William J. Bryan Parkway. The College Station Police Department has reported more accidents this year than the Bryan Police Department. As of Nov. 30, die CSPD has reported 2,060 auto collisions in 1997. CSPD has reported 242 major accidents and 1,269 minor acci dents this year. The CSPD does not keep records of specific collision locations, but Lt. Scott McCollum said a majority of the accidents occur on or near Texas Avenue. “The sheer volume of vehicles traveling through that area presents numerous opportunities for accidents to occur,” he said. McCollum said the CSPD have “tracer,” or heavily patrolled areas at four different intersections along Texas Avenue. Please see Accident on Page 7. “fST \ wW. VinL . DAVE HOUSE/The Battalion The intersection of University Drive and Texas Avenue is a “tracer” area, which is heavily patrolled by the College Station Police Department. It is one of four intersections targeted by the CSPD to prevent motorists from breaking the speed limits. ESTTIME CLASS TIME 30-9:30 a.m. MW 5:45 - 7 p.m. ) - noon MWF 8 - 8:50 a.m. 2:30 - 2:30 p.m. TR 9:35 -10:50 a.m. ■5 p.m. TR 11:10 -12:25 p.m. jfc mwKVWMMmm £57 TIME CLASS TIME ■ 10 a.m. MWF 9:10-10 a.m. ):30 -12:30 p.m. MWF 12:40 -1:30 p.m. -3 p.m. TR 8 - 9:15 a.m. 30 - 5:30 p.m. MW 4:10-5:25 p.m. Ht/me CLASS TIME |j-10 a.m. MWF 10:20-11:10 a.m. 0:30 - 12:30 p.m. MWF 3-3:50 p.m. 1-3 p.m. TR 3:55 - 5:10 p.m. ISO - 5:30 p.m. MWF 1:50 - 2:40 p.m. Texas Avenue project confounds motorists TxDot aims to preserve access during expansion ^MTIME 10 a.m. | 0:30 ■ 12:30 p.m. •3 p.m. :30 • 5:30 p.m. CLASS TIME TR 12:45-2 p.m. MWF 11:30 -12:20 p.m. TR 2:20 - 3:35 p.m. TR 5:30 - 6:45 p.m. By Amanda Smith Staff writer Construction is a part of life for peo ple who work and travel along South Texas Avenue in College Station. Ex panding Texas Avenue from two to three lanes has been one of the con- struction projects by the Texas Depart ment ofTransportadon (TxDOT) in the Bryan-College Station area. Catherine Hejl, an assistant engi neer for TxDOT in the Brazos Valley, said TxDOT is responsible for man aging projects but the construction firm is responsible for the completion and construction of the project. “Our main responsibility at TxDOT is that we oversee a project,” Hejl said. “We really do not control the con struction. The construction company operates on their schedule.” However, TxDOT may charge the construction company liquidated damages for the time taken that ex tends beyond the expected comple tion date of a project. Hejl said TxDOT has remained on schedule with the construction on Texas Avenue, which is expected to be completed in the Spring 1998. She said TxDOT has tried to keep as many lanes open as possible dur ing the construction, which began in February 1996. “We try to pinpoint times to work on some construction,” Hejl said. “But much of the construction work is temperature and moisture con trolled. We cannot do much of the construction when the roads are wet. But we have to keep lanes open and to maintain access to businesses.” Diana Worden, a sophomore gen eral studies major, said the construc tion on Texas Avenue has improved since she came to A&M in Fall 1996. “The construction has definitely gotten better, because they have made the road better,” Worden said. “They have widened lanes. It is going to give us more room [once the con struction is complete].” Businesses on Texas Avenue began to meet in late September and early October to discuss solutions to the construction that had reduced traffic flow on Texas Avenue. Anthony Abraham, a general man ager of Ladies & Lords Bridal & Tuxe do, said the shop has been affected by the Texas Avenue construction. “Our location and visibility is very important to us,” Abraham said. “We use our windows to display our prod ucts to potential customers. The con struction on Texas Avenue has been a great inconvenience for the cus tomers. Our parking lot was torn up from May to September (1997) as a result of the construction.” Abraham said safety along Texas Avenue was a concern of the busi nesses. “Safetyhas been a major issue,” he said. “We have seen accidents occur because of people’s uncertainty. There had been a lack of proper markings. The lanes change daily.” Hejl said TxDOT has made accom modations to inform businesses of weekly changes in construction. Each Friday, TxDOT sends faxes to busi nesses about the construction pro jects for the next week. Hejl said another restraint thatTx- DOT faces is the availability of mate rials and crews for construction. She said that working at night presents greater danger for the construction crews. “It is not safe,” Hejl said. “A lot of people were wanting night work in earlier stages of construction. Some materials and work crews are not available to work at night.” Additional projects include the construction on George Bush Drive that involves widening the road to in clude four lanes and adding a medi an, curb and gutter. The project costs $4.5 million, comparable to the $5 million construction project onTexas Avenue. TxDOT is working to repair the pavement and complete additional surface treatment on Texas Avenue. Hejl said repavement projects are generally routine and must be com pleted to keep the roads safe. She said heavy traffic on roads such as Texas Avenue increases the need for con struction. Additional work along Texas Av enue (Highway 6) includes adding street lights, traffic signals and land scaping. Along Highway 21, TxDOT is resurfacing the pavements in two construction projects that cost $2.2 million. "Safety has been a major issue. We have seen accidents occur because of people's uncertainty." Anthony Abraham local shop manager WSFTf ■SfS foliate assistants work on )th sides of the podium. See Page 3 When it comes to safe driving, prevention is the key Police use speed monitors to detour potential wrecks on state highways By James Francis Staff writer ie Texas A&M Men’s JSketball Team defeated im Houston 91-68. See Page 9 jslly: Season of merriment irrants separation from od, etiquette teachings. See Page 13 online ttj://Jiattaiion.taimi.edu :>ok up with state and na- >nal news through The ire, AP’s 24-hour online jws service. From head-on collisions to hit-and-run ac cidents to the smallest fender bender, Texas dri vers have endured a wide variety of traffic inci dents this year. Although these incidents may occur unex pectedly, traffic officials say there are different ways to prevent accidents and safeguard dri ving on Texas highways. Paul Sturrock, public information officer for the Department of Transportation Bryan Dis trict, said that people rushing to get somewhere causes unnecessary accidents. “One thing that really helps is giving your self enough time to get to your destination without having to be in a hurry,” he said. Sturrock said that another factor in traffic accidents involves speed limits. After coordi nated traffic studies of highways are complete, usually the speed limit for a highway or road is set at the 85th percentile of the study. He said this depends on elements of roads, such as curves, the number of driveways and crash histories at given locations. “A lot of the counties are complaining about the new speed limits, complaining that 70 mph is too fast for farm roads,” he said. Sturrock said legislation that was recently passed states that, “speed limits can be reduced on farm market and ranch market roads with pavement widths of 20 feet or less, when the county commissioners court and a public hear ing is held.” Sturrock said electronic speed monitors, Speed Monitoring Awareness Radar Trailer (S.M.A.R.T.), have been placed on the sides of roads to help control speeding. He said the cost for utilizing the monitors was about $15,000, and it was funded by Bryan and College Station. The monitors are used in communities when members of the neighborhood request speed enforcement, Sturrock said. The moni tors take the place of police officers. Since the implementation in April 1997, Stur rock said the monitors have saved 13,000 hours in police work and $27,000 in personal costs. He said other aspects that contribute to traf fic accidents involve darkness, when drivers be come sleepy and do not see other drivers in on coming lanes; motorists who go off the shoulder, attempt to get back onto the highway and overcorrect instead of gradually easing back onto the road or stopping. Sturrock said that despite the factors of traf fic incidents, people never lose the “It can’t hap pen to me” mentality. “Perhaps one of the reasons is they’ve been lucky so far and haven’t had an incident to teach them the value of these precautions,” he said. “If you look at statistics, there are tens of thousands of accidents a year; you’re only a couple of feet away from disaster, whether it’s going off the road or someone swerving into your lane.” With the holiday season approaching, Stur rock said people should be especially careful when driving onTexas highways. “There will be more traffic probably be tween cities,” he said. “Days preceding and fol lowing holidays are usually some of the worst traffic seen all year, but if you stay calm and courteous, you should make it ok.” Tom Williams, director of Parking, Traffic and Transportation Services, said people driving on campus have some of the same traffic problems as those who travel on major highways. “The main concern is we’re not a major highway, so the speed limit is slower,” he said. “Drivers must watch for buses, pedes trians and bicyclists.” As with driving onTexas highways, Williams said speed is a primary concern, but drivers should try to be alert, aware and follow the rules of the road. Williams said that with a campus enrollment as large as Texas ASM’s, one large difficulty in dri ving on campus involves pedestrians. “Pedestrians tend to not be aware that there MJMMl l.£t kUsktCT if ill ft C i Tatter driving to l fut intent* in child safety seats hr the I are vehicles on the street,” he said. “They should try to get the driver’s eye contact before crossing, because some drivers don’t stop.” Although accidents on campus may not compare to 10-car pileups on interstate high ways, Williams said A&M has its share of inci dents. “We have a lot of accidents in our parking lots,” he said. “University Police deal with the accidents on campus, but normally they are just fender benders.” In preventing traffic accidents, Sturrock said people always should be ready for the unexpected. “You could be the best driver in the world, but assume the worst is going to happen, be ready for it and you might live longer.”