Another death on our Santa Clarita streets. We have a crisis all over this country with the slaughter of pedestrians and bikers and we need to call it for what it is. As a victim of out-of-control, lawless driving that resulted in my having to close my business five years ago and live with a daily struggle to stay out of a wheelchair, I am acutely aware of the speeding, reckless driving, failure to obey traffic laws and indifference of our city to take this problem seriously.
Almost every day my husband and I go to our wonderful Henry Mayo gym, which is 2.6 miles from our home. There are 14 stoplights, which means it is stop-and-go all the way down there. Drivers speed from light to light, weaving in and out, not signaling that they are turning into your lane, turning right without stopping. They pass you just so they can get to the red light one second before you! The speed limit on McBean Parkway is 45 mph but drivers go 55-65 and act like they are on Interstate 5.
Santa Clarita is not alone. This is a national emergency. But it has to be handled locally.
First we need to lower the speed limits. Why should we have 45-50 mph limits when people ignore the posted speed limit? We need to have law enforcement out continually ticketing people. We need to reinstate the cameras at major intersections such as McBean and Valencia Boulevard and ticket lawbreakers but with small fines that increase incrementally with continued infractions. We need to eliminate the right turn on red privilege because at least 40% of turners ignore this law. This resulted in my experiencing another very serious injury last October that almost did me in. We need the city to constantly and loudly broadcast that lawless driving will not be tolerated.
I have always been an avid walker. We bought our house in 2000 so I could walk to work in a half-hour. When I was forced to retire because of the lawless Santa Clarita man, I walked endlessly to stay out of a wheelchair but now I would never consider walking on our streets because of how out of control drivers are. Thank goodness we have our gym.
I implore the city to take this seriously. No one is entitled to break the law.
Carole Lutness
Valencia
