Accident Intersection Shepardson & Fletcher Rd

[Henry]

Unknown Injuries

[Judi]

Anything else to report?

[Mollyd79]

Another person not paying attention at that intersection. My husband saw it out our window and ran over. Seems everyone was fine. A young woman either ran the stop at Shepardson or just pulled out in front of the other vehicle. There was quite a "thump" noise. Same noise that we heard when the fatality happened earlier this year. I often wonder what can be done to make this intersection less dangerous, the reduction in the speed limit did nothing. I wish we had know what a bad intersection it was before we bought our house!! Live and learn.

[Chris Santee]

I made a note to bring this up at the next Selectboard meeting.
Stacy is aware of this thread and also has it noted (in case I can't make the meeting).

Perhaps a STOP AHEAD sign ? Is there one there now ?

feel free to send input to: FairfaxSelectboard@yahoo.com
or call the office 849-6111 ext. 7

and, please remember to drive safely this holiday season.

[mkr]

Maybe a bigger stop sign....

It's not the Fletcher Road drivers it is those not stopping off of Shephardson Hollow Road. 

I have seen it myself coming over the hill and they don't even stop at the end of the dirt road and pull out in front of me or drive straight across. 

Chris, maybe some driver training UGH... It scares me to see it

[rod anode]

buckle up and hit them harder,I remember when I rearended a dilbert there ,he couldn't get off the road turning onto shep.and another dude was coming from wilken and just stopped and looked at him ,GET OUT OF THE WAY YOU@!$%#$@%$ BREATH#@$$#@^&bang

[gkmcnall]

how about stop signs in all four directions

-Karen

[mkr]

Karen it would be tough in the winter coming up Fletcher road at times to stop on that hill and it would be dangerous too for those coming over the hill to find 3 cars stopped unfortunately. 

The hill needs to be graded down on Fletcher road which it was supposed to be before Don Pigeon retired, but his funding was taken away to do it.  This would eliminate the dangers on 3 different dirt roads if the hill was cut down so all could see better.

[Mollyd79]

All the accidents I've seen in the past few years have been from someone pulling off of Shepardson without stopping or looking. Most instances the other vehicle is headed toward Fairfax center, not coming from over the hill. I do agree the hill is pretty dangerous when trying to pull onto Fletcher from Swamp Rd though. A four way stop would be awful in my eyes....more excuse to do burn-outs and wake my kids up! I'm just waiting for the day our fence gets taken out!

[mirjo]

I think 4 way stops create more confusion regarding who goes first  etc and would not necessarily resolve the the problem of people not looking/stopping coming off Shep Hollow.

Of course, this state seems to have a new interest in roundabouts...so perhaps a roundabout at the Fletcher/Wilkins/Shep Hollow intersect?! 

It would slow people down enough to see what's coming, if nothing else useful. And while we're at it, people don't seem to understand how to maneuver at  104/128 either...and sometimes other intersections that don't seem to have a structural problem. Surely I jest about the round-about, but as I'm thinking about it, where does state/local responsibility to save people leave off and personal responsibility begin? If we (as a society) are always intervening to save people from their bad decisions, what does that really do for society in general?

We have a police force concerned with seat belt use, because some people won't wear one without being forced and are a potential risk to society if they become incapacitated in an accident due to not buckling up and end up a drain on resources for the rest of their lives. While we've got campaigns galore about "click-it ot Ticket" we have an increasing problem with crime here. It seems like we're always  focusing on the wrong things. While no one likes to see these things happen--especially to young people, it just doesn't seem like the problem isn't exactly the road, which has been there a long time.

Certainly many things have changed in the past  century of driving, cars are faster, roads are paved where they were once dirt, there are more people/houses everywhere. However, the intersection in question has been present in Fairfax for many, many years and I don't recall so much attention paid to it before--nor do I recall accidents routinely happening there. It's not like speeding down Fletcher road is a new thing that cropped up in the last couple of years or that anyone. who is a more rational adult now and grew up here, NEVER was one of those HS students or young adults at one time or other. So it leads me to wonder what is so different now, that accidents seems to be happening there more.

[HayesFXFD17]

From the Fire and EMS perspective....Statisticly we can expect to respond to this intersection about 3-5 times a year something that has not changed for the last decade.  Recently we had a fatatility at this intersection that becomes driven by the hype of social media and forums such as this, so that increases the visibility to incidents.  Increased visibility equally greater attention for a topic of conversation.  I chuckly because I see no mention of the dozens of accidents we respond to infront of Steeple Market, 128/104 Insection or Brush Woods areas.  Steeple Market is good for at least 6-10 a year (Thats with the reduced speed limits and adequate visibility) and Brush Woods will consume almost the same in a given year. 

For those inclined to make decisions or make political light of, please let the data drive decisions and not tunnel vision to social media.

Justin Hayes, CFI
Fire Chief
Fairfax Fire

[Rev. Elizabeth]

Good observations, Justin! But despite the statistics, that Shep Hollow/Fletcher Road intersection is still an awkward one.  And speaking of bad intersections, when I have had to drive back up Wheezy Way, it is sometimes hard to tell where the road ends; the angle of the hill, sighting the telephone poles create a strange illusion.  And, the intersection of Swamp and Fletcher can also be precarious to negotiate.....we all need to pay extra attention at the intersections of these roads...and the roads you mentioned, too, Justin.  We are all becoming distracted drivers, perhaps.  Attention must be paid!!!

[rod anode]

just cutting down that middle hump would be a big help

[Chris Santee]

Cause of this accident was windshield visibility.
Scrape and defrost.