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News centers on seniors, traffic and pedestrians

Staff photo by PAUL LAMISON

A golf cart prepares to cross Sun City Center Boulevard around 7:30 a.m. Oct. 30.

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Laura Frazier

lfrazier@tampatrib.com

Published: November 25, 2009

A string of recent news stories centered on traffic, pedestrians and senior citizens got me to thinking about my long-departed grandmother.

Way back when, Grandma Susie would unfold her wire shopping cart, button up her overcoat and wheel her way through the mean streets of Brooklyn.

On a quest for the best bagels and cheapest "chop meat," Grandma maneuvered her cart with one hand and, with the other, pulled me along by the coat sleeve. Cars climbed curbs within feet of our sidewalk stride. Delivery-truck drivers honked and yelled for us to get out of the road, red lights be damned.

Fast-forward about 35 years to greater Brandon and the South Shore area. Grandma's gone now, but ... drivers hell-bent on getting where they're going as quickly as they can? Some things never change.

The news this month that the Tampa Bay area ranked second to Orlando as the most dangerous U.S. metropolitan area for pedestrians didn't come as a surprise to many.

Just last week, a co-worker driving along State Road 60 near the I-75 exit ramp watched in horror as a man trying to cross the busy byway was struck head-on by a vehicle. The man, she said, appeared mangled and lifeless.

Why would anyone walk through that motor melee? I wondered whether the victim had lost his job and couldn't afford a car. Or perhaps he was elderly and no longer able to drive.

Another press release I received relative to senior citizens and traffic issues thankfully offered a bit of good news.

A program launched by Hillsborough County in 2006 to improve safety in front of residential senior citizen facilities was recognized this month at the Roadway Safety Awards Ceremony in Washington, D.C.

The county's Senior Zone program is similar to its School Zone safety program. County staff works with eligible applicants to determine the best ways to reduce vehicle and pedestrian accidents in front of senior living communities.

Speed limits are commonly reduced in both programs. Other fixes considered are solar-powered warning flashers, thermo-plastic speed markings, driveway access signs and cameras to detect the presence of pedestrians.

Buz Barbour, county traffic program manager, said the program is very effective.

In 2006, John Knox Village, on Fletcher Avenue in Tampa, was designated as the first Senior Zone in the country. A second zone was installed in 2007 at Rocky Creek Village on Waters Avenue in Tampa.

As a result, Barbour said, the number of accidents at John Knox Village dropped from 68 in 2006 to 36 in 2008. At Rocky Point Creek Village, 46 accidents in 2007 before the improvements dropped to 29 in 2008.

Barbour said the program is also economically effective during tight times.

The county helps applicants who qualify for the program to come up with a plan to improve safety. The residential facility owners, however, pay for the installation.

"When the budgets are tight, we are very pleased that we have come up with a very effective and economical applicant-funded approach to roadway safety," Barbour said.

The $40,000 worth of improvements installed at John Knox Village, Barbour said, are just as effective as a stoplight, which would have cost the county about $350,000 to install.

Another news flash this month involving seniors and safety struck an odd chord.

Hillsborough County commissioners on Nov. 4 voted unanimously to spend between $250,000 and $300,000 on a paved golf cart path to allow residents of Sun City Center headed to Walmart to cross U. S. 301 at Cape Stone Avenue. The money will come from property and gas taxes.

The thought of senior citizens barreling across that busy highway in golf carts - no matter how many safety features are put in place - is disconcerting to many.

But, I know if Grandma were around and lived in Sun City Center today, she'd fold up her wire shopping basket and stick it in the back of her golf cart. Then she'd grab me by the sleeve and gun it down the cart path, hell-bent on being first in-line for the advertised specials at Walmart.

SENIOR ZONE PROGRAM

For information about Hillsborough County's Senior Zone Program, call the Citizens Request Center, (813) 635-5400 or go to www

.hillsboroughcounty.org/publicworks.

Reporter Laura Frazier can be reached at (813) 627-4767.

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