Far too often we hear the loud pop! crunch! from inside our home on the corner of Ridgeland and Van Buren. We walk outside to see what happened and hope that no one is gravely injured. In our four years, we’ve seen several near misses of the worst-case scenario across the street from our home: a teenage cyclist flipped in the air; a child’s mother struck, shattering her leg; an Edible Arrangements truck trying to speed across Ridgeland only to be T-boned by a Pace Bus, its driver taken away in an ambulance.
So when the village installed new “no left turn” signs and traffic diverters as a trial in support of the Vision Zero plan, I expected relief. Instead, the local discourse has deeply upset me. Largely speaking, folks are saying that the diverters are “a big inconvenience to me,” with one even suggesting the community should “keep turning left, eventually the posts will go away.”
Maybe my perspective is naive. Maybe owning a home on a dangerous intersection makes me feel unsafe. I am not a “born and raised” Oak Parker, but my family has chosen this community to raise our family, a 2.5-year-old and a 13-week-old. For now we can keep them safe, but they will become more independent, walking and riding their bikes around the neighborhood, and I can only hope that our community bands together to protect them.
I urge you to think about these changes beyond how it impacts your day to day. Practice the empathy and inclusivity I see signaled on your yard signs, and think beyond the me toward we. These traffic-calming measures will make our streets markedly safer if we can bear the inconvenience of making three more right turns to get home, stopping for pedestrians when the beacons are flashing.
I urge you to pay attention and participate. Crash data is publicly available. There are open meetings and comment periods about the Vision Zero plan. Maybe if we get beyond the “me,” and open up to the “we,” Oak Park will be better for it.
Ellen Janowski
Oak Park