Monday, July 16, 2012

Dangerous situation in Oak Park

Earlier tonight a truck carrying fuel some how began leaking.  Right now Greenfield is closed between 11 Mile and 12 Mile Rds.  A large amount of fuel has already entered the sewer system which has led to evacuations of area homes and businesses.  Several fire departments are on scene including Beverly Hills, Troy, and Southfield.  Several sources are also reporting the whole Oakland County Haz-Mat Team has been activated, along with the County's Emergency Operation Center.  This is a potentially serious situation and the public is being asked to stay out of the area and let the crews work.  I will try to post updates as I hear them from the media.

Update:  The situation is still on going, could be closed for a few more hours.  Road commission and water departments are on scene as well assisting.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Walk or Don't Walk

Last night I was sitting in the left turn lane at Walton & Baldwin in Pontiac.  I was on my way to Dairy Queen before picking my wife up from work.  As I am sitting there and the light is green for both directions of Walton, I see a kid about 13 years old easily make it across the eastbound lanes and cross in front of me.  As he continued walking, not paying attention to westbound traffic, I watched him almost get hit by cars on 2 seperate occassions.

He is not the only person that I have seen just cross streets without paying attention to the signs or even traffic flow lately, but it seems like its getting worse.  When I hear of accidents involving pedestrians my first thoughts are was it at a crosswalk? Did they have the walk sign?  Were they paying attention?  Because my theory is this if they were not at a crosswalk, did not have the walk sign, and/or were not paying attention they got what they deserved.  I feel worse for the driver that hit them knowing that is an image they will have to live with for the rest of their lives.

Most crosswalks used to have walk/don't walk on them, but then they were concerned about people who couldn't read so they put symbols up there.  What do we do next?  How do we try and allivate these types of situations?