Rollover Crash on S. Main Street in Pittsford Village

During this morning’s commute, our village’s Main Street was shut down briefly due to a crash in which one vehicle rolled over. You read that correctly. It rolled over.

This was on a village street lined with trees, lampposts, street parking, homes, churches and businesses. It is not a highway.

According to the report, the driver was headed north, became distracted and hit a parked car in front of 71 S. Main St. There is no evidence at this time that the distraction was due to texting or calling. No speed data was available. It was about 7:45am, the weather was clear and warm with no precipitation. There were no reported injuries (we will update you if we hear otherwise).

In many ways, a rollover symbolizes the struggle between our lovely walkable streets and the driver-first mentality that surrounds them. “Oh yeah! You think we shouldn’t be able to speed through your community?! I’ll raise you a flipped car.”

We’ve lived in the village for two years, and I’ve been home to witness 5 crashes right in front of our house (usually one driver rear-ending another). Brooke texts me regularly to inform me of those she witnesses during the short distance biking her kids to and from school. A friend was ejected over the front of his bike when a driver hit him on Jefferson Road during his morning commute. A 13 year-old was injured in a hit and run in broad daylight on a Sunday in the heart of our village (the driver was never identified).

I’m frustrated. And like many of you, I’m anxious, because my kids are now old enough to be out on these village streets alone. Upon learning about this crash, several people commented that their kids had just biked or walked through there and they were regretting letting them do that. Others said they walk that area daily and take their lives in their hands crossing the intersections and mid-block crossings.

Driving is a huge responsibility. When we drive, we need to be focused on driving. We are maneuvering a 3000 lb. metal machine through streets where people live, work, shop and play. Cars are now safer than ever for those inside them. We as drivers feel so safe inside them that we forget we are driving. We speed, put on mascara, eat a sandwich, call our mothers and send a quick text.

I don’t know what distracted this driver or what the speed was. I do know that the design of our streets and how fast we can drive on them builds in room for human error. And we as humans will make errors, whether we are driving a car, biking, walking or tending the garden in our yards close to where drivers speed down our street.

Thank goodness there was a parked car to provide a buffer. If it weren’t for the parked car, maybe the driver would have instead hit someone on the sidewalk and continued into someone’s yard.

The speed limit in the village is 30 mph, although we know most drivers pass through closer to 38 and 40 mph. (Remember, 30 mph is the threshold of what the human body can take to even remotely survive being hit by a regular-sized car, let alone the big ones people drive around here.) I don’t know this driver’s exact tack, but he must have been traveling at a good clip to roll the car.

The lower the speed, the more reaction time a driver (and someone in the driver’s path) has. That means crashes can be prevented altogether. And when they do occur, they will inflict far less damage.

I don’t want to single out this driver, because he is not the only one who speeds or drives aggressively through our streets. We have a whole tangle of inherited traffic culture in our village caused by various factors — sacrificing the heart of village as a pass-through when the town grew, widening of roads, decades of prioritizing traffic speed and volume on our state-owned roads, urban sprawl and the nationwide trend of building places for cars instead of people.

We can choose to make change. It will, however, mean that we as drivers will have to slow down and it will take us longer to get through the village when we drive. The trade off will be more livable streets for everyone who utilizes the heart of the town.

Have something to say about traffic in the Village? Join us on June 7th!

Pittsford Pedestrian & Bike Safety Information Session: June 7th, 6:30PM