Why is there a sudden spike in traffic control measures around town? I find it very annoying. Saturday when I was slowly driving past the Economy Shop [100 block of South Grove] looking for parking, I noticed some poles on my right. When I looked, I saw that they’re by the fire hydrant, and I assumed they were to keep people from parking in front of it, which makes sense.
Then all of a sudden, Bang! I stopped the car to see what the heck I had run over and found a huge, high speed table behind me that had never been there before. I noticed later that northbound there is a sign warning you but southbound there is not. It is the worst speed table I’ve ever driven over in my life. Someone’s car or tire will probably be damaged at a normal speed. Why is that necessary on a quiet street that’s not even in front of a school?
When you drive down Thomas, east of Ridgeland there are now all these bump outs and poles that make it extremely hard to make a turn. As they were installing them, I spoke to someone who lived on the block and was worried that emergency vehicles would not be able to get to their house. There are new bumps now in a few streets and it looks as if more are being installed. They aren’t nasty speed tables, but still annoying.
Very annoying to me is that I can no longer make a left turn onto Ridgeland from Thomas. I’ve been doing that for 42 years and there’s normally very little traffic. I have never had anything remotely like a close call doing that. Perhaps there might be a valid argument for prohibiting a left turn during rush-hour but to prohibit it 24 hours a day is, frankly, ridiculous.
I don’t know whose idea this was to do all these things suddenly, but I hope they’re done and there won’t be any more things that make it extremely difficult and annoying to drive around town.
Joyce Porter
Oak Park