FULLERTON : Intersection Safety Petition Circulated

Stacey Smith is tired of seeing people get hit and cars collide on the busy street corner outside her apartment.

So Smith and her neighbors have started a petition drive, soliciting signatures from people who live near the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue and State College Boulevard. They are gathering names on the street corner and plan to take the list to City Hall in an effort to ask city officials to make the intersection safer.

Even though the intersection has a traffic light and a crossing guard helps children get across in the mornings and after school, residents claim the intersection is still dangerous. They said they want left-turn-arrow signals installed to cut down on accidents.

“I get to hear the squealing of the tires, the crashing of the glass and the crunching of the metal from speeding cars, and I’ve called 911 many times,” said Smith, 37. “It really makes me nervous and scared. If this problem doesn’t get immediate attention, someone is going to get killed.”

Smith said she is afraid to let her 6-year-old daughter, Marcie Treadwell, cross the intersection alone. She said she walks Marcie to Commonwealth Elementary School.

“When you’re a pedestrian, drivers don’t think about how it is to walk across the street. They’re always in such a hurry that they tend to go faster without regard to the kids walking in front of them,” Smith said.

Police have reported four accidents at the Commonwealth and State College intersection since January, city officials said.

Smith’s husband, Walter Treadwell, said he’s been a witness to some of those accidents. “The intersection is an ongoing problem,” he said.

Smith and Treadwell said they have already collected about 50 signatures on their petitions and plan to collect several hundred more before presenting them to the City Council next month.

Usually, when residents make requests for traffic signals, the requests are studied by the Traffic Department and the city’s Transportation Committee, officials said.