Hinsdale Intersection to Install Yield Signs Following Fatal August Accident

The intersection at Ravine Rd. and Oak St. in Hinsdale where a biker died in a car accident Aug. 22 will be receiving new yield signs, the Pioneer Press reported.

Hinsdale Police Chief Kevin Simpson said that, after a study was performed, it became clear that yield signs on Ravine Rd. were needed to help drivers going east or west on the road remember to yield to vehicles on Oak St.

A yield sign will also exist in a median island at the intersection. Because of this island and another landscaped island in the intersection, the intersection is complicated, Hinsdale police said. There are six possible ways to approach the crossing.

There haven’t been many accidents at the intersection in the past half decade, but Hinsdale residents said they’ve seen many near-misses at the crossing and have contacted village officials about the dangers of the intersection in the past.

The new yield signs will have flags on them, Simpson said, but no flashing lights. Lights are reserved solely for stop signs.

New lane markings will also be painted leading up to the intersection to clearly differentiate lines of traffic.

As a part of their study, police reviewed a five-year accident history and measured speed and volume of cars going through the Ravine and Oak intersection.

In the five-year period from Sept. 1, 2011 to Sept. 1, 2016, there was only one property damage collision, besides the bicycle fatality. The collision happened at 6:52 p.m. March 27, 2014, when it was raining, Simpson said. The Aug. 22 accident, when a 55-year-old Clarendon Hills woman was killed, happened at about 7:30 a.m.

In both collisions, a vehicle traveling south on Oak struck a vehicle or the bicyclist going west on Ravine.
Police equipment was used to measure the traffic the week of Sept. 12. When vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians are included, the traffic averages more than 2,000 units per day. The most traffic during that week occurred on Sept. 15, when 3,410 drove down Oak and 415 vehicles drove down Ravine.

The equipment measured the average speed of vehicles as 26.5 mph on Oak 50 feet north of Ravine, and 27.4 mph on Oak about 100 feet south of Ravine. The speed limit on both Oak and Ravine is 25 mph.

The village's Engineering Department determined that visibility on the southwest corner of the intersection was a problem for drivers due to landscaping on private property.

The Hinsdale Village Board is expected to officially approve the ordinance to install the yield signs at its next meeting on Oct. 18.

--

Image via Shutterstock.