In what is the third accident in four months at a busy Spencer Estate intersection, three people were taken to the hospital conscious, but with complaint of pain, during rush hour.
The accident occurred at the corner of Ampere and Stadium avenues on the morning of Monday, November 10 at 8:26 a.m. While details are currently sketchy about the cars involved in the accidents, neighbors who witnessed it said it was another accident in a long string of crashes, and are once again calling for a four-way stop sign for the corner.
A request for the signage was turned down several years ago by the Department of Traffic.
“The corner of Ampere and Stadium avenues needs a four-way stop sign, like the one at the corner of Country Club Road and Stadium avenues, which was also very dangerous,” said Robert Menichino, who lives three blocks away. “In the past three and half months we have had three accidents which required an ambulance. Several years ago, my daughter’s new car suffered five thousand dollars worth of damage after an accident at the intersection.”
Menichino said that cars are flying down the hill on Ampere Avenue as they approach Stadium Avenue, often above the speed limit.
“The drivers who come down Ampere Avenue are flying through the intersection,” Menichino stated. “The motorists who are waiting on Stadium Avenue to cross Ampere Avenue get bamboozled and think they have time to cross the intersection.”
Obtaining four-way stop signs for Ampere Avenue has proved especially difficult in the past.
According to DOT spokesman Craig Chin, the main criterion when determining whether a four-way sign is warranted is whether there have been five or more accidents in a 12-month period that could have been prevented by a four-way sign.
Small fender-benders do not count in the DOT’s assessment, but more severe accidents like those that have occurred at Ampere and Stadium avenues recently do, and it is likely the DOT could be persuaded to revisit the issue if still more accidents occur over the next eight months at the intersection.
“Numerous times over the years we have requested four-way stop signs for the intersection of Ampere and Stadium avenues, most recently last spring,” said Al Carena, president of the Spencer Estate Civic Association.
“Every time that DOT has done a study of the intersection, they said that a four-way stop sign was not warranted. Hopefully, with this most recent evidence, this time they may approve a four-way stop sign.”
