Dang it! I Missed It

Earlier this morning, I was playing with Miss Kitty in the back room when I heard a police siren coming west on Union. No big deal; it happens all the time, day and night, in this stretch. But then I heard squealing brakes, a solid metallic crunch and then the siren cut off. Uh oh. I started to go outside to investigate, but decided not to.

Now I wish I had. As the story above reports, a police cruiser hit another vehicle on Union head on, flipped and landed upside down in the Kinko's parking lot! That's barely more than a block from here! Wow. Fortunately, no one was killed.

Accidents on Union are nothing new. The stretch where this accident happened is just down from Avalon and Union, where there are similar fender-benders all the time. The problem isn't emergency vehicles so much as folks turning off or onto Union. Drivers are always trying to beat traffic, which can be tough to do. Always in a hurry; rush, rush, rush.

The stretch of Union right in front of the Schnuck's market is another bad spot. There are three entrances to turn into, lots of traffic from the corner of Union and McLean, drivers leaving Schnuck's leaping across traffic to go west, more drivers stacked up on Union trying to turn in. Accidents are a regular occurence there.

Union Avenue, for those who just moved here, was a variable-traffic flow street for many years. The two center lanes would change throughout the day: westbound during morning rush and eastbound during evening rush. It was a nightmare to drive, and doubly so with thoughtless, speedy, selfish Memphis drivers. The City finally went to the present three lanes each way a few years ago. I was opposed to the change (Learn to drive and pay attention, you wantwits!), but the accident rate on Union dropped by something like 25%, so it was the right thing to do.

I think the City may now have to explore the idea of dedicated turn lanes for at least some part of Union. Maybe from Cleveland to Cooper? But will the squeeze in a turn lane, making Union a very crowded five lane road, or will they narrow the lanes and make it seven?

Either way, it's still going to be scary for pedestrians like me trying to cross Union. Even when I cross at the intersection of Avalon and Union, or at Idlewild to get to Schnuck's, I'm taking my life into my hands. Even when the traffic is all going one way, I still look the other way, just in case. I've seen drivers go backwards on short stretches of Union, just for convenience.

Maybe we need more stop lights?