City considers placing flashing yellow lights on Northgate
Lincy George
Issue date: 12/8/04 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
The city of Irving is in the process of deciding whether or not to install flashing yellow lights on Northgate drive, Kathleen Mullins Jost, transportation engineer for the city, said.
Jost is currently conducting an engineering study that considers and evaluates factors affecting traffic and pedestrian safety.
"It [the study] is just about done. It is not completed yet," she said.
"We look at issues warranting a flashing yellow light-the speed of the road, what's provided now, the accident history, sight distance, pedestrian patterns," she said.
Sight distance is how far pedestrians and moving vehicles can see each other. Pedestrian patterns refer to how many pedestrians use the road and where they cross, Jost said.
The study follows a serious accident involving a GSM student on Northgate Drive. Sunita Kasliwal, who received her MBA in health care management last Friday, was hit by a speeding truck, Oct. 31. According to the police report, Kasliwal was knocked unconscious and taken to Parkland Hospital.
As Kasliwal is an international student, her accident sparked sympathetic and intensely concerned conversation in the office of international enrollment in GSM. The general sentiment of the conversation was the need to prevent future accidents on Northgate, Dr. Susan Clark, Intensive English Program director, said.
"I heard people talking about someone who was injured. [People were saying] accidents happen all the time [that] these are our students [and that] we need to do something," she said.
Because of her interaction with the city of Irving as part of the courses she teaches, Clark knew with whom to get in touch.
"I e-mailed Denise Todd, business liaison for the city of Irving. She [got in touch with] Jost; she got things going. All I did was describe a very tragic, a very alarming accident, and my concern for possibility for fatalities in the future. We are lucky this time. Let's take the warning," she said.
Clark praised what seems to be the city's immediate response to the situation.
"[The city] values [its] relationship with the University of Dallas so that one e-mail started what you are seeing in action. The city of Irving does not like to let mistakes happen," she said.
Todd said the city's response, if less than typical, was because she knew which city department was responsible in such situations.
"The time [the city] took to respond was about the same. The only thing that helped was I knew where to send the inquiry," she said.
Jost is currently conducting an engineering study that considers and evaluates factors affecting traffic and pedestrian safety.
"It [the study] is just about done. It is not completed yet," she said.
"We look at issues warranting a flashing yellow light-the speed of the road, what's provided now, the accident history, sight distance, pedestrian patterns," she said.
Sight distance is how far pedestrians and moving vehicles can see each other. Pedestrian patterns refer to how many pedestrians use the road and where they cross, Jost said.
The study follows a serious accident involving a GSM student on Northgate Drive. Sunita Kasliwal, who received her MBA in health care management last Friday, was hit by a speeding truck, Oct. 31. According to the police report, Kasliwal was knocked unconscious and taken to Parkland Hospital.
As Kasliwal is an international student, her accident sparked sympathetic and intensely concerned conversation in the office of international enrollment in GSM. The general sentiment of the conversation was the need to prevent future accidents on Northgate, Dr. Susan Clark, Intensive English Program director, said.
"I heard people talking about someone who was injured. [People were saying] accidents happen all the time [that] these are our students [and that] we need to do something," she said.
Because of her interaction with the city of Irving as part of the courses she teaches, Clark knew with whom to get in touch.
"I e-mailed Denise Todd, business liaison for the city of Irving. She [got in touch with] Jost; she got things going. All I did was describe a very tragic, a very alarming accident, and my concern for possibility for fatalities in the future. We are lucky this time. Let's take the warning," she said.
Clark praised what seems to be the city's immediate response to the situation.
"[The city] values [its] relationship with the University of Dallas so that one e-mail started what you are seeing in action. The city of Irving does not like to let mistakes happen," she said.
Todd said the city's response, if less than typical, was because she knew which city department was responsible in such situations.
"The time [the city] took to respond was about the same. The only thing that helped was I knew where to send the inquiry," she said.