Salt Lake drivers don't have a corner on not seeing pedestrians.
Motorists driving in Orem have the same problem. Just ask Taryn Hirschi.The 15-year-old high school sophomore was crossing the road at the intersection of 1600 North and Main in Orem two weeks ago on her way to Timpanogos High School when she was struck and knocked to the ground. The driver, partially blinded by ice on the windshield, was traveling east at 40 mph in a 25-mph zone.
Hirschi was hit first by the right fender and then again when the car fishtailed. She suffered a concussion, a badly sprained ankle, and hurt her knee and hip when her head sheared off the car's side mirror and hit the pavement. She has been unable to focus or read and can't remember events from the recent past.
Hirschi can't even recall the accident except to remember she was waiting on the side of the road at 7:20 a.m.
She lives just 20 yards from the accident site.
"I'm amazed nothing more has happened here," said her father, Ron Hirschi. "We have watched children trying to cross the road. It's scary."
Ron Hirschi watched a youngster wait with her bicycle for 25 minutes one Saturday morning before he finally went over to help her across.
"When a child that young can't get across in a half an hour, something is wrong. When I helped her, I had to just step out and hope nobody hit me," Ron Hirschi said. "I'd like to see a light."
Ron Hirschi appeared before the Orem City Council recently to plead for help but he got limited response.
Richard Manning, Orem's director of public works, said the solutions will take time, at best.
Manning, who lives in the area himself, said a traffic evaluation is being done, but he doubts the intersection will qualify for a signal light.
"We do have a lot of pedestrians there," Manning said. "But a light would break up the traffic flow." He said he would prefer to see some coordination and synchronization with the traffic coming from State Street.
Painted crosswalks on today's roadways seem to do more harm than good, he said. Pedestrians rely on drivers to pay attention and stop to allow a crossing.
"You can't count on that anymore," Manning said. "We hesitate to paint crosswalks because they create a false sense of security."
Putting a crossing guard in place is not practical because the high school students generally don't cross the road for school, the junior high students going to Oak Canyon think they're "too cool," and Northridge Elementary students live on the north side of 1600 North and do not have to cross the street, Manning said.
To get a light put in by the city will take time and another budget year. An overpass would be expensive, and there's not a good place to locate the access points. "We'd really have to buy two homes to do that," Manning said.
Manning agrees that 1600 North has picked up more traffic all through the day in the past couple of years, largely unrelated to the opening of the new high school.
But Manning said he isn't sure the accident that hurt Taryn Hirschi couldn't have occurred just about anywhere in the city.
"If I understand the facts right, it was just that, an accident. I think the solution is to re-educate drivers," Manning said.
Leah Gibbons, a neighbor and concerned citizen, told the Orem council they could look at putting in flashing warning lights or creating a four-way stop at the intersection.
"Everybody knows that (intersection) is manic. From 7:30 to 8:05, it's just crazy. We can't get out of our driveways or make a left turn. To get a car's attention, you have to step out right in front of it," Gibbons said.