Corte Madera Residents Fighting Speed

It's a sight Bruce Mace might never forget, and he hopes he never sees anything like it again.

"The guy in the van was crying and sobbing and he said, 'I thought I killed him,' " Mace related to the Corte Madera Town Council during a May 3 hearing.

Residents of the neighborhood around Chapman Drive and Oakdale Avenue are pleading with the council to do something to prevent any more close calls between children and speeding cars.

The council will consider at Tuesday's meeting the option of a creating a multi-way intersection at Chapman and Oakdale. The area has been a great concern to residents for a long time. Citizens tried to get a stop sign installed on Chapman Drive 40 years ago, but didn't get what they wanted. Now, the issue is back.

It's not just a matter of speed, though. There is some documentation to suggest the intersection at Chapman and Oakdale suffers from insufficient sightlines.

The question is "Is that the right measure to put at this location? Is that the right solution to the problem?," town engineer Dan Ring posited. "We evaluated a bit on our own. We're looking perhaps at a radar speed safety sign with the flashing warning sign that Twin Cities Police has at various areas as maybe an interim measure."

Residents argue they've seen cars speeding down Chapman Drive at close to 50 mph — twice the posted speed limit. A recent study conducted in November doesn't necessarily back up those claims. The average speed on Chapman was found to be 27 mph near the Tamalpais Drive intersection.

"There were outliers of speeds that approached 40-50 mph. Those are probably people who get late and rush down to get to Tamalpais," said Ring. Several people noted that as Chapman Drive widens toward Tamalpais, drivers are inclined to speed up.

Ring suggested various traffic calming measures, including narrowing the area of Chapman near Tamalpais or installing speed bumps or meters.

In the meantime, residents are just looking for some way to make their streets safer.

"(Drivers) go down Chapman and whip around up Manazanita and I don't know where the heck they're going," said an emotional Linda Broom, who lives nearby on Manzanita. "I know on our street we have 21 kids in one block. It's just going to take one … and I don't want it to be (my son)."

Also on the agenda for tonight's council meeting will be the possible rezoning to allow more Corte Madera residents to keep bees and chickens.