I was enjoying one of our rare recent sunny afternoons with a walk on the Rail Trail when I noticed a couple ahead of me on the trail. They were walking their dog. It was a tiny but very enthusiastic traveler. As I caught up with them, I stopped to mention how hard their dog was working to catch up with them after every pit stop he made to check out a stick or a clump of weeds.
We chatted for a minute, and the conversation turned to local issues.
"I've got a suggestion for your next column," the man said, pointing over my shoulder to the intersection of the Rail Trail and Park Street. "Reduce the speed limit on Park Street to 60 miles per hour."
I'm not always the sharpest pencil in the box. After a minute or so, I got it. I laughed and admitted he had a valid point. Park Street should be a speeding trap, not a speeding zone.
Park Street, for the benefit of readers who don't live in our beautiful chunk of northern Berkshire, is the main downtown street in Adams. On its southern end, it connects to Commercial Street; on its northern end it becomes Columbia Street. All three streets are also part of state highway Route 8 as it winds from Cheshire to North Adams.
Probably because it is part of Route 8, drivers seem to view Park Street not as the center of a small town but as an obstacle course they need to negotiate as rapidly and aggressively as possible.
A friend of ours who enjoys riding her bicycle on
Using any crosswalk on Commercial Street, Park Street or Columbia Street requires the nerves of a tightrope walker and the courage of a daredevil. Many drivers are courteous and politely yield the right of way as required by Massachusetts General Law. But there are plenty of dimwitted cowboys obsessed with beating everyone to the next traffic light. These tormented souls make crossing Route 8 a roll of the dice. Will he stop? Won't he stop? Hope he stops!
It's easy to blame lack of enforcement from the police department for all of this tomfoolery, but that wouldn't be fair. In any police department in any small town in America, there aren't nearly enough personnel to man and monitor every crosswalk or every intersection. There never will be. Adams is no exception.
No, more than more enforcement is required. It isn't just Park Street or Route 8 that's the problem. Come on up here to West Road in the Donovan neighborhood any morning and watch the flying commuters break the sound barrier on the shortcut to Pittsfield. Slip over to the other side of town to East Road and watch the speed demons bound for Springfield squeal around the corners as they rocket toward Route 116.
No amount of enforcement short of the National Guard can patrol that many miles of roads. We don't need more enforcement, we need more education. The message in Adams from everyone in a position to give that message has to become a loud, unhesitating, "Slow down!" Thirty mph means 30 mph. Yellow lights mean slow down, not gun it. And perhaps most importantly, crosswalks mean be prepared to stop for pedestrians, not speed up to beat them to the curb.
We need to change how we drive, and we need to change how we teach new drivers to drive in Adams. Or, we could just lower the speed limit on Park Street to 60.
Bill Donovan writes regularly for The Advocate. Feedback is welcome at bill@donovantalk.com.
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