This story was updated on Thursday at 11 a.m.
Great Barrington — A car accident in front of Monument Mountain Regional High School Tuesday (January 12) is once again raising concerns about the safety of an intersection where young, inexperienced drivers must navigate challenging turns onto a fast-moving state road.
Calls for a traffic stoplight at the intersection have been made over the years, and now some people say it’s time to do something before tragedy hits.
Sheffield resident Ben Hillman said that around 1 p.m. his daughter, an 18-year-old senior, was making a left, southbound turn onto Route 7 when she hit a Toyota RAV 4 heading south. Hillman said another car in the southbound lane, waiting to turn into the school, blocked the Toyota from view as she made the turn. Hillman said that while his daughter misjudged, she couldn’t see the other car coming.
Hillman said while his daughter got out of the Subaru Forester unscathed, he hasn’t yet heard about the four passengers in the Toyota.
The Edge learned Thursday morning that the Toyota passengers were taken by ambulance to Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, and apparently released, though that has not been verified by hospital officials. Two of the occupants were toddlers.
While the intersection has a flashing light, and occasionally, a police officer stationed there during arrival and dismissal hours, cars routinely whip past the school entrance at the 55-MPH speed limit, or higher. Over the years, Hillman said, “many, many parents, teachers, government and local officials have been concerned about this, including myself. It’s been put in front of the state Department of Transportation (MassDOT) for years and years and they do nothing about it. Fortunately, my daughter came out OK. If things were slightly different we could have had a tragedy.”
He said his daughter’s mistake isn’t the point. “This is a very dangerous situation, let alone in front of a high school.”
While MassDOT did not immediately return calls, Stockbridge police chief Robert M. Eaton Jr. said he has worked with Great Barrington Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin, the Berkshire Hills Regional School Committee and MassDOT to come up with a solution. “We met with DOT a number of times early last year,” he said. Eaton said he thought a stoplight should replace the flasher, and said he would like to see “a functional traffic light on a timer” that flashed during school hours, but stopped traffic during the critical hours.
Such a light, however, would not have stopped Hillman’s daughter from hitting the Toyota. According to Selectboard member Ed Abrahams, who has pushed for a light over the years, the reason for MassDOT’s reluctance to install stoplight is that the accident and/or fatality rate does not meet their threshold for such an alteration. Yet, Abrahams added, “it has been an issue ever since the school was built.” Ironically it was Hillman who put the bee in Abrahams’ bonnet just after he was elected. “I made a few calls,” Abrahams said, “and I went to the DOT. It comes up all the time. But the town has no control because it’s a state highway.”
He said the school district at one point considered building a road that would move the school entrance to Monument Valley Road, but at a cost around $1 million, the idea was dropped.
“I’m not stopping until something happens this time,” Abrahams said.
It was Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli (D-Lenox), who in his first term got the money for the blinking light. He said the state has never wanted to install another stoplight so close to another light at the Monument Valley Road intersection, roughly 500 feet away. He once proposed relocating the school driveway, he said, and now he’s going to try to meet with MassDOT. “It’s worth a conversation. But we need to get details [about the accident] before we get too excited.” He said he didn’t want to see a “knee-jerk reaction to one accident.
“We shouldn’t panic,” he added.
The Edge was unable to get accident data, however, as calls to the Great Barrington Police Department and MassDOT were not returned by the end of the day. The Edge received information from residents, however, who said there have been fatalities at the intersection over the years.
Hillman said his daughter and other seniors often leave the school early for independent studies or other activities outside the school. An officer from the Stockbridge Police Department is stationed at the intersection starting at about 2:40 p.m. every day, according to Chief Eaton, who also said a Great Barrington officer takes the morning shift.
However, there was no officer stationed there Thursday morning, and parents and students say police presence there is irregular.
The highway stretch near the three-building school campus does not have the speed restrictions seen near other school campuses.
At the Great Barrington Police Station, where Hillman went after the accident, he said he told the officer he wished there was a stoplight, the officer, he said, “threw up his hands and said, ‘we tried!’ ”
“Even the school principal has trouble with the intersection,” Hillman added. “Everyone has a hard time. Every single person thinks this is a problem except for the DOT.”
In an email Monument Principal Marianne Young said a light is needed. “Simply change the blinking yellow light to a stop light that is triggered when a car is exiting and turning left,” she wrote. “While it is not a busy intersection all day every day, when it is busy the cars are often being driven by new drivers or parents, and the busses are carrying many young people. As we have said many times, one accident – and we’ve had more than one over the years – is too many.”
In an email, Tabakin said the town is “happy to support the school district and participate in any meetings with [MassDOT].”
Hillman wonders what it would take for MassDOT to make the intersection safe.
“If they’re waiting for someone to lose their child it’s unconscionable. Whatever their formula is should not involve a dead body. If they refuse to do it because of their rule book, it means something is wrong with their rule book.
“If you’re more worried about traffic moving slow than about somebody getting killed, something is wrong.”
