It’s Holiday Shopping Season. And that means more cars out and about, more people in a hurry, more people paying less attention; and this time of year, more people driving in the dark.
CIMG has contacted the Danville Police about two areas along North Vermilion where concern has been expressed to us. One is the 3600 block in front of Meijer. And not just the traffic light. But more importantly, the turn-in without a light south of there by Tractor Supply. The question often heard is “why would a driver insist on turning left into that entrance, or left coming out of that entrance; when you are crossing two lanes of busy traffic without a light?” And sure enough, data we obtained from the Danville Police shows a significant number of accidents that involved traffic pulling out of the Tractor Supply entrance on to Vermilion.
The second North Vermilion area of concern is the 3200 block just north of Liberty Lane. Drivers going north are often seen stopping just past Liberty Lane, to turn left into 7 Brew Coffee or Take 5 Oil Change. To do that, they are drifting into the center turn lane; the same one southbound drivers are using to turn left on to Liberty. Yes, that middle turn lane is marked by arrows going both ways. But Northbound traffic at that point has a double solid yellow line, which means “Do Not Cross,” and also means cutting into the turn lane going north that soon after crossing Liberty is indeed illegal. Danville Police Chief Christopher Yates says when you come across situations like that, you should look at safer, legal ways. And there certainly is a logical, safer way to go here; for both north and southbound traffic.
Audio PlayerAUDIO: There is an entrance to that going in from Liberty, West Liberty. And that would be an alternate route where people could look, and also soften the amount of traffic that’s going in from the Main Route of Vermilion or Route 1. As well as understanding that just because you may be paying attention, other people may not be.
Chief Yates also says when you are exiting ANY of the many businesses just north of Vermilion and Liberty, turning right to continue going north or south can certainly be much safer; and then you can turn around where you have the chance if you meant to go the other way.
(1st Picture) Looking at northwest corner of N. Vermilion and Liberty Lane, where immediate left turns after the intersection by northbound traffic are disallowed by a double yellow line blocking the middle turn lane. (2nd Picture) Danville’s Police Chief Christopher Yates. (3rd Picture) Looking at entrance to Meijer by Tractor Supply, where there is no traffic light, making entering and exiting from southbound traffic unadvisable and dangerous.
Getting back to the entrance to Meijer at Tractor Supply, Chief Yates says there has been concern about that for at least the last five years. He says what is needed for safety is the THREE E’s: education, enforcement, and engineering. Yates says the police can handle the first two; but the third one, engineering, requires the cooperation of the city, the Illinois Department of Transportation, and the property owners. Chief Yates says lately there has indeed been more communication among the three parties. For example, what you could see in the future is a right turn only merge lane from northbound Vermilion at the Tractor Supply entrance, and a right turn only merge lane coming out to continue going north. Southbound traffic, coming or going, would need to use the traffic light. And Chief Yates says, THAT’S what makes sense for drivers right now.
Audio PlayerAUDIO: Or only go north, when you are pulling out of the exit from the Tractor Supply entrance. That way, we’ve cut down on a lot of cross- traffic crashes. And also, consider that the speeds are a little bit higher right there. And again, if you’re paying attention, that’s going to give you the best chance; but you can’t guarantee that the other people are paying attention as well. And also, it can be very confusion when you have one person turning, two people going straight, and other person turning in the opposite direction.
At all times, some very good common sense advice would be that if you are making a left turn, and it means crossing two or more lanes of traffic coming the other way without a light; you would be protecting yourself, your family, and others by finding a safer way in or out.
