I arrive at Red Lion corner on my way to everywhere else twice a day every day of my life and sometimes more than twice. I have been doing it for 50 years. That’s a minimum of 36,500 times. I consider myself very familiar with that corner.
I know folks have concerns about accidents at that corner. The state does not consider it a dangerous intersection, and in 50 years, I never witnessed so much as a fender bender in that location. My observation is not scientific, but I am happy about it.
Traffic has increased and it makes it a bit tricky but there is a cure. It is painted on the pavement. Notice it? It is an egg or oval shape. It has a dual purpose. My pet peeve: stop driving over it.
If you drive around it, its dual purpose is satisfied. One, it slows you down, and two it makes an accident far less likely.
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line so everyone puts on their left turn signal (or not) and turns left by maintaining speed and cutting across the egg.
Think about it: if everyone is cutting across the egg that creates multiple points of impact. If on the other hand, we never go across the egg, always go around it, keeping the egg on the driver’s left at all times, there are fewer, if any, points of impact.
Gosh, why do you think someone got down and carefully painted an egg in the middle of Red Lion corner? For us to drive over? Nope. To reduce points of impact by driving around it, and therefore, reduce the possibility of accidents. Yup.
The history of drawing lines on pavement is more than a century old. In 1917, Dr. June McCarroll came up with the idea of putting white lines in the center of roads as a safety measure. The expression, “stay in your lane” was born.
Called pavement markings, lines painted on pavement are messages to drivers. They indicate which part of the road to use, where to park or pull over, where passing is allowed and more. Yellow lines separate traffic flowing in opposite directions.
Drivers should always stay to the right of yellow lines; drivers should always stay to the left of the lines that form our Red Lion corner egg.
