To the Editor:
In Woods Hole on the morning of July 31, I drove down Luscomb Road and turned onto Railroad Avenue just as vehicles were offloading the ferry from slip 3. I encountered a nonstop stream of traffic exiting the site onto Railroad Avenue. Not a single vehicle stopped at the two stop signs.
As I drove toward the exit, a vehicle almost hit me because it did not stop upon exiting the SSA site. I stopped my car with the front of his car at the side of my car, and told him there was a stop sign and he should have stopped. His response was, “Well, I am stopped.”
Webcam footage of the previous disembarkation showed a police vehicle with its white grill lights flashing stopped just before the SSA exit to block local traffic on Railroad Avenue, allowing six empty fuel tankers and two trucks to exit the site. It then moved on. However, throughout the disembarkation from the following boat, no police were present. All this time, three or four SSA employees were milling about doing nothing but chatting.
Although there are two stop signs at the exit, both are effectively useless. One is mounted at the exit on a Jersey barrier and faces South. Therefore, it is virtually impossible for vehicles exiting slip 3 to see it, because they approach the sign from an oblique angle.
The second sign is about 27 feet from the exit, so far that most drivers probably do not think it refers to the upcoming exit. In addition, that sign is oriented westward, parallel to the Jersey barrier, not directly at the exiting vehicles, making it less informative for exiting drivers.
Finally, both stop signs are frequently useless because various buses and trucks park next to the Jersey barriers, despite a no-parking sign, blocking both signs from view by those from slip 3.
Local traffic and pedestrians are being threatened daily due to the SSA’s failure to control traffic exiting its site, and because of the placement and orientation of the stop signs on its property. While the SSA will probably claim it is not its obligation to control traffic, it clearly is. This is because the vehicles are exiting its property onto a town street, and the stop signs belong to the SSA.
How much longer will we be forced to undergo this abuse because the SSA believes it has the right to do or not do anything it wants, without regard to the rights of others and its obligation to obey all laws? The SSA and/or Falmouth must do more to ensure the safety of everyone who passes through that critical intersection.
Damien Kuffler
Woods Hole
