Traffic Light Change Due to Number of Car Crashes

Soon residents will see something different at the intersection of Route 27 and West Street -- strobes inside the red lights.

That intersection has seen its fair share of accidents over the years but the frequency has increased, particularly in the last four to six weeks. 

Medfield Police Chief Robert Meaney Jr. said,

That particular intersection has been an issue since it opened in the early to mid 1970s. It does not make sense, since the intersection is very open -- no significant trees or shrubs, no signs blocking the view and no buildings close to the road that would interfere with sight lines.

He said the motor vehicle crashes that occur at that intersection tend to be more serious because of the speed limits on Route 27/North Meadows Road as it approaches West Street.  

"There have been several crashes there in the past few weeks, which is unusual. Nothing has changed at the intersection to account for the increase in crashes," he said. "However, the past few crashes did have some other factors:

• One involved an operator who was unlicensed and should not have been driving, 
• Another crash involved an operator that was charged with operating under the influence, 
• A third crash occurred where neither operator could tell us whether or not they had a green light. It took a neutral witness to tell us who had the right of way."

Two weeks ago, after noting the increase in crashes at that location, Meaney contacted the town's traffic light maintenance company to get some thoughts on how to deal with the issue.

"What we came up with was to replace one of the red traffic lights at each of the four approach roads with a red light that also has a strobe light associated with it that will flash when the light is red," he said. "This type of solution has been used in similar circumstances and appears to work well."

The lights will be replaced with strobes in the near future.