To the Editors:
I live in the Ogden House here in Wilton and take my dog for walks along River Road several times daily. As I walk her I observe the vehicles approaching the stop sign at the intersection of River Road and the Glen River/Ogden House driveway, and while my observations are truly guesstimates, it appears that about one in 20 cars come to a complete stop, one in 40 or 50 do not even slow down and zoom through the sign. The rest are somewhere in between, some come to a near stop and then roll through while others seem to take their foot off the gas and slow slightly while others apply their brakes and slow to maybe 10 mph or so.
What prompted this letter was a near collision I witnessed this morning, July 15. I was walking south and was maybe 100 feet from the intersection when I noticed that a vehicle exiting the drive had stopped and proceeded to make a left turn. I saw a northbound car completely ignore the stop and for a moment it appeared there was a collision coming, but the exiting car must have seen the northbound vehicle and accelerated while the northbound car pulled to his right, narrowly avoiding an accident.
From my vantage point it looked as though there were inches keeping the cars from colliding. I yelled at the northbound driver that he had blown a stop sign and got a one-finger salute in return. I was hoping I could get a plate number, but it happened too fast and I was unable to get it.
I know that at times the Wilton Police Department posts a car in the driveway, but in order for them to observe drivers’ behavior they have to park far enough up the driveway where they can be seen by people approaching the stop sign, so it is self-defeating. I don’t have a good solution other than to put a traffic cam on the north side of the drive with officers up the street watching on a computer and stopping the offending drivers as they come up the road.
I am sure this little spot is more important to the residents of Glen River and the Ogden House than other matters in town, but I fear at some point there will be a serious collision with injuries or even death.
Bayden ‘Bud’ Taylor
100 River Road, July 15