Last week’s Indianpolis 500 race reminded us of the “outside curve” rule – when drivers go too fast around a curve it’s the outside wall they crash into.
There’s an “outside curve” on the west side of Main Street between Down River Road and Woodland Road that is tricky to navigate, and it often catches drivers by surprise. Coming off a slight downhill stretch, they approach the curve too quickly. Most drivers just swing wide, but we have seen vehicles hit the telephone pole or crash into the bank there. A child on a sidewalk would be at risk.
Engineers who have seen aerial shots of this curve advise that, for reasons of safety, the sidewalk belongs on the other (east) side of Main Street.
Tags: location, main street, New Canaan, safety, sidewalks
Main St. New Canaan Property Owners 
June 22, 2008 at 3:28 pm |
For what it’s worth: As I was driving down Main Street on Friday afternoon (6/20), at a point near Elm Place, two people were walking side by side on the outside edge of Main Street, facing me (i.e., precisely where the sidewalk would be). I had to slow down almost to a total stop because I could not swing left to accommodate them, due to oncoming traffic. This is precisely the problem we are envisioning–take five feet from existing roadway and the lanes will be too narrow to allow drivers to make way for, e.g., emergency vehicles or cyclists. Are cars to drive up on the sidewalk???