OBTW: Most dangerous element at infamous intersection

One day last October, I parked my car on the northwest shoulder of North Odell, facing south, with a clear view of the intersection, and observed the passing traffic for 30 minutes beginning at about 2:30 p.m.

After hearing so many comments about this intersection, I thought I'd just check it out for myself.

To be honest, judging from some of the blog postings, I half-expected I wouldn't survive the afternoon. This intersection was judged as "the most dangerous in town," with accidents occurring there by the dozens.

Traffic was steady but not heavy. It was a bright, sunny day, with no rain or clouds. Traffic consisted of a mix of semi-trucks and passenger cars or pickup trucks.

Although a few drivers were clearly speeding, most traffic was moving at an appropriate speed. Most vehicles had their headlights or running lights on. Most drivers used turn signals when appropriate.

In short, most drivers appeared to be operating their vehicles safely.

But one characteristic of unsafe driving was observed very frequently -- the "Hollywood" stop, in which the driver of the car does not come to a complete stop, but merely slows down. It's a casual nod to the stop sign.

Nearly 30 drivers, in the space of just 30 minutes, failed to make a complete stop at the intersection, and instead simply rolled through it or darted across Highway 240 with only a little room to spare for the drivers on Highway 240 to avoid hitting them.

So before I went back to the newsroom that afternoon, I stopped at the Marshall Police Department and asked them for a report on the accidents that had occurred at that intersection in 2007 and 2008. We reported that information on page 1 of today's edition.

I think the information in that report speaks pretty loudly for itself, but it does need some supplemental information that will bring it into sharper focus.

It is the drivers on North Odell who are required to stop at the intersection with Highway 240. Travelers on Highway 240 have the right of way. There aren't any exceptions to that. Certainly, they should be watchful and prepared to stop if necessary, but the burden is not on them.

Since all but two of the accidents in 2007 and 2008 were caused by failure to yield, it appears that most of the accidents are caused by risky behavior on the part of the drivers on North Odell -- the ones who are rolling through the stop signs when they should be stopping.

If you don't think rolling through a stop sign is risky behavior, you might want to consider some important facts:

On a good day, with dry conditions and a level surface free of loose material such as gravel or rock, it takes an average automobile traveling at 45 miles per hour 104 feet to come to a complete stop, and that's only AFTER the car has traveled an additional 50 feet before the driver reacts.

A semi moving at 45 miles per hour takes longer to stop -- 152 feet, plus the additional 50 feet while the driver reacts, a total of more than 200 feet.

Now add just five miles per hour of speed and you're tacking on an additional 48 feet to the distance needed to come to a full stop.

To put this distance into perspective, if you are traveling between 45 and 50 miles per hour on Highway 240, and a driver on North Odell somehow fails to see you or decides to play "chicken" with your life and his, the two of you will meet in the intersection in less than four seconds.

The solution to the problem of accidents at this particular intersection isn't complicated and doesn't require a stoplight, a squaring-up of the intersection or a greater police presence.

It's a lot easier -- and a lot cheaper -- than that.

All that's required is a return to the basics of safe driving. Come to a complete stop, look left, then right, then left again. If you can safely cross the intersection, proceed. If you can't feel you can't see the intersection clearly, move up a little and look again.

You say you don't have time for all that?

The few seconds -- and it IS only seconds -- you save by rolling through the intersection too quickly are likely to be more than offset by the delay and possible injury an accident could bring.

And that doesn't even take into account the cost to repair your car, maybe an increase in insurance premiums, maybe the cost of a ticket.

Do you have time and money for all that?

Or to put it another way -- do you have time and money to waste for all of that, in exchange for getting across Highway 240 five seconds quicker?

Because if you do, I've got some bridges in New York and some swamp land in Florida you can spend that money on.

We'll do lunch. Have your people call my people.