Dangerous intersections

It comes as no surprise that Carson City has some dangerous intersections. Everybody who drives in the capital city knows its main streets are overburdened, and the sheer numbers of vehicles at places like Carson Street and College Parkway mean sooner or later somebody is bound to get hit.

But readers of the Nevada Appeal who saw the article in Tuesday's edition on the most dangerous intersections made a couple of points worth repeating.

The first was that the intersections by themselves aren't dangerous -- it's the motorists who use them.

Drive a little slower. Use a bit more caution. Have an ounce more patience. We know there is traffic congestion, so why do we fight it?

It was interesting to note the U.S. Census information on average commuting times showed Carson City's at 17.7 minutes. For all our complaining, the fact remains that getting from one end of Carson City to the other doesn't really take that long. (That doesn't change our opinion that traffic flow certainly could be improved. It's all relative.)

The second point from a reader, however, was that some intersections do contribute to the danger.

At Carson Street and College Parkway, the worst for both total accidents and accidents causing injuries, there is no left-turn signal for east-west traffic turning to head north or south.

We've seen more near misses than we'd care to count, caused by momentary confusion in the middle of the intersection over who has the right of way.

On the other hand, we've plenty of close calls at intersections where there were ample signal lights -- which takes us back to the first point. There's just no accounting for bad drivers.

Solutions to Carson's traffic congestion are on the horizon, including improvements to Roop Street or Stewart Street and, eventually, a bypass.

In the meantime, the only alternative is for the Sheriff's Department to concentrate on those dangerous intersections and hand out tickets to the speeders, the no-turn-signal drivers and the red-light runners.