Why I Can’t Blame the Wrong-Way Driver That Almost Hit Me in Augusta
One of the first things your parents probably taught you was to look both ways before you cross the street.
I know it is one of the first things that I taught my kids and I always made a point of telling them to look in both directions even if they were crossing what they believed to be a one-way street.
Practicing that piece of advise in part helped me avoid getting run over in downtown Augusta the other day.
I had parked on the rail bed and was walking down the stairs toward Commercial Street. I reached the bottom of the stairs and, my view blocked by the stockade fence that encloses a series of garbage dumpsters, I peeked my head out to look to the right. It is a good thing I did because there was white SUV with Connecticut plates flying the wrong way down Commercial Street.
This is not the first time that I have seen other people driving the wrong way down Commercial Street. It has always been shocking to me because there are signs at the intersections with Commercial Street explaining that it is a one way street. There are signs, right?
Well, after doing a little walking around I found that there were several signs at the intersection of Commercial Street and Winthrop Street explaining that Commercial Street was a one-way. However, it turns out that there is no clear indication to drivers entering commercial street from Oak Street that Commercial Street is one-way.
There is a sign on the corner of Commercial and Oak, but it seems to indicate the Oak Street is one-way.
My suspicion is that the majority of the wrong way drivers we see on Commercial Street are entering from Oak Street.
Even though you would think the fact that all of the vehicles parked on the street are facing the opposite way would be a good indicator that you are going the wrong way on a one-way street, because there are no signs explaining that I really cannot blame the driver of the vehicle from Connecticut.
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The good news is that, in my discussions with other people who work downtown, it sounds as though this matter has been brought up to City of Augusta officials.
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