Willows crash renews call for stop signs Willows crash renews call for stop signs (March 24, 2004)

By Rebecca Wallace
Almanac Staff Writer

A traffic accident on March 18 in Menlo Park caused minor injuries to the drivers and angered a nearby resident, who said the crash could have been avoided by a stop sign the neighborhood had asked the city for.

The collision took place at the intersection of Laurel Avenue and Durham Street in the Willows neighborhood around 1:20 p.m., Menlo Park Police Sgt. Mike Amaral said. The intersection has stop signs on Durham heading north and south, but none on Laurel, he said.

One vehicle was driving south on Durham, stopped at the stop sign, and proceeded into the intersection without yielding to the cross traffic, Sgt. Amaral said. Another vehicle was coming from Laurel and did not have a stop sign, and the first vehicle broadsided it, then went through a wooden fence and into a tree, he said.

The first driver complained of neck pain, with the passenger suffering a cut to the wrist, while the second driver complained of leg pain, Sgt. Amaral said.

Hearing of the accident, Laurel Avenue resident Steve Rasmussen said he and his neighbors had been concerned that the intersection was dangerous and had submitted a petition about a year ago asking the city to make it a four-way stop.

He said a similar accident had happened in the same place about two years ago, when another vehicle struck the same fence.

"At 7:45 in the morning there are 10 to 15 middle school students sitting on that fence while waiting for the school bus. Fortunately, both accidents have happened later in the day," he wrote in an e-mail to the City Council last week.

City officials, he said, had not responded to the petition.

Asked about this by the Almanac, Dan Smith, a transportation consultant for the city, said the transportation division would look into the matter.

Many Willows residents have been voicing concern over speeders and cut-through traffic in their area. The city recently added speed humps on Woodland Avenue and approved a set of traffic-calming measures for Chester Street.

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