To the editor:
Myself, my wife and another community member were six feet from dying at the intersection of East State Street and Charles Street on Wednesday, Oct. 21 at 8:05 a.m. We crossed East State as lowly pedestrians in what feels increasingly like a post-apocalyptic wasteland full of violent road gangs and motor vehicle tyrants.
A dark-colored SUV ran the red light at full speed (30-35 mph on East State Street), nearly missing the three of us. It drove straight by fully stopped cars and drivers who were, amazingly, stopped at the red light. I called the authorities and, to their credit, the Athens Police Department took a look at the two Flock cameras on East State and did a patrol in the area.
As I expected, it amounted to nothing. Drivers operate with impunity. Go ahead and get yours, drivers. The roads are a demolition derby. If the places we live are incapable of or uninterested in changing driving behavior then I should expect to die on the road.
At least I’ll die knowing there’s a designated outdoor refreshment area (DORA) in this town, something that is so important we fought hard for it. I fully understand that your privacy and convenience, both of which would be infringed upon by modern automated traffic enforcement and real consequences for driving unsafely, are more important than my life. As I told the APD officer who did all he could, I’ll talk to you again about this when I’m dead.
Josh Christen
Athens, Ohio