Background
The Association plans to request a traffic calming study from Harford County, in accordance with their Neighborhood Traffic Management Program. To better inform this request and follow-on discussions between the Association and the County, the Association is gathering details from residents about their traffic concerns and experiences. If it helps, consider the following lists of topics and the concerns the Association is already tracking. Then share your input in the form below.
Traffic Topics
- Speeding
- Problem areas
- Child safety
- Animal safety
- Reckless driving
- Cut-through traffic
- Peak times related to each concern (time of day, day of week, etc.)
- Frequency of each concern (# of vehicles / day, % of traffic offending, etc.)
- Specific traffic incidents
- Road conditions
Tracked Concerns
Elevated Risk Factors
- Child Safety
- Children often play in or near the street (e.g., passing football, playing basketball, etc.).
- Public school buses pick up and drop off children along the roads, resulting in many street crossings by often unattended children 5 days a week.
- The community pool and playground both result in yet more play spilling into the street and more street crossings by children.
- Cut-Through Traffic
- Bentgrass Dr and Heathland Tr act as a cut-through from S Stepney Rd to Route 7.
- It is a particularly enticing cut-through for motorists from S Stepney Rd wanting to turn left onto Route 7, since left turns out of Heathland Trail only have to cross one lane of traffic at a time, while left turns out of S Stepney Rd have to cross both lanes at once.
- The S Stepney Rd and Route 7 intersection is very busy and commonly has accidents. We see even more cut-through traffic when that intersection is slowed or closed by an accident.
- Bentgrass Dr and Heathland Tr act as a cut-through from S Stepney Rd to Route 7.
- Road Conditions
- Heavy street parking creates frequent bottlenecks with low visibility for both motorists and pedestrians.
- Significant downhill stretches result in increased motorist speeds and longer stopping distances.
Undesirable Motorist Behaviors
- Speeding
- Speeding occurs throughout the day (weekdays and weekends), with surges during typical commuting periods (7:00 – 9:00 AM; 3:00 – 6:00 PM) and in the evenings.
- Reckless Driving
- Reckless drivers speed through the previously mentioned narrow bottlenecks, where even 25 mph is too fast to stop in time for a pedestrian emerging from between parked cars (e.g., a child chasing a ball).
- Reckless drivers speed 20+ mph over the limit.
Previous Accidents
- A child was hit by a car at the roundabout.
- Careless drivers have hit various parked cars, damaging side mirrors, rear lights, etc.