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My name is Sam Kaufman and I live on 4500 Porter Road. I am here today to talk about the road condition and the <br />safety my family and and our immediate neighbors face living on Porter. I would like to show you a few photos that will <br />helpfully demonstrate some of the safety issues we face daily. <br />PHOTO 1 <br />This is a photo I took about 4 hours ago and it's a completely random vehicle traveling north -bound on Porter — my <br />house, which you can't see in this photo, is just on the left once you exit the turn. Not sure if you have noticed, but that <br />car is going through a left turn, but it's leaning right. This is because this section of Porter road is cross -sloped, meaning, <br />it's slopes in both directions with a high point in the center of the road; unlike banked turn which slopes in the same <br />direction (like NASCAR). I'm not an engineer by trade, but I'm assuming the reason for not being banked turn has to do <br />with elevation or something similar. <br />The problem, however, is that most drivers are unaware of this fact and it's quite evident almost every time it rains and <br />especially when it snows. You see, what ends up happening is that drivers expect to follow through curve, like normal <br />path of travel, but because of the slope, they're actually forced off the road causing them to overcorrect the steering <br />wheel. So, as soon as they get through the half of the turn, they basically pop -out perpendicular to the road and start to <br />slide uncontrollably. <br />PHOTOS 2-7 <br />For example, the first two photos are of a driver that ended up in my yard in the winter of 2013. Photos 3 and 4 are <br />tracks left by a guy who damaged 2-3 properties last 4th of July. He went across my neighbor's driveway where about <br />dozen or so kids were playing basketball (he missed them by some 30-40 feet), then slid across the road, hiithe pole <br />and ended up in my yard. In fact, he hit that pole at such force that he managed to move it about an inch and a half and <br />spun twice before coming to rest (and just an FYI, a typical pole weighs about 1200 pounds and is approximately 6 and <br />half feet deep). In other words, if that pole wasn't there, I most likely would be fixing my dining room instead of the <br />lawn. Granted, speed was a factor here — no doubt about it — but if the road wasn't sloped in the opposite direction, my <br />personal opinion is that he most likely would not have had crashed. The last two photos are of another driver that... <br />you've guessed it... also ended up in my front yard. Ironically, this happened moments before last council meeting was <br />kicked off on October 19" <br />These are just some of the examples that I have documented... there are at least 2 more incidents that I do not have <br />pictures of, but I'm sure can be confirmed via police reports. And there are at least another 2-3 incidents that have gone <br />unrecorded, mainly because the people drove -off. <br />So... what is the solution? Personally, I do not believe mobile speed -readers are effective. They may cause some of the <br />drivers to slow down, but this is only temporary solution. The road I drive daily on my way to work had one of those and <br />as well as an officer that would occasionally sit on the site of the road, and yes, the speed limit was followed even after <br />the unit and the officer were gone. But that was temporary — people are still driving way over the speed limit today. <br />Reducing the speed limit is only going to impede traffic and not prevent arrogant drivers from slowing down. And <br />putting speed bumps would be a great option, but I don't think this is going to be feasible since this road is used by EMT. <br />Chevron signs? Ironically, those were put in sometime this summary and were gone within few weeks. Even after the <br />safety engineer agreed that they should be installed due to the road conditions, allegedly the reason they were removed <br />was due to "aesthetics" — they didn't look pretty. I'm not sure if it's the city or the person who lives there that caused <br />the signs to be removed, but I guess now looks matter more than safety. <br />Well, the safety of my family and my friends is more important to me than the look of a few signs. In my opinion, the <br />best permanent solution is to have a guardrail installed on our tree lawn. This will prevent drivers going into our yard <br />and most importantly, I don't have to worry a&watw4walking my daughter down the street. (-:)Q- qu4r_t t i,-) �Vw> <br />