Dangerous road puts McKinney neighborhood in harm’s way

by Teala Martinez Ward

Our community, Willow Brook - a section of Stonebridge Ranch - has repeatedly pleaded with the McKinney City Council to address the issue of excessive speed on Berkshire Road. In November of 2008, family after family from our community appealed to the City Council to address the issue, this after a community gathering at our park to meet with District Rep. Ray Ricchi.

Wolford Elementary and Evans Middle School both feed to Berkshire Road where there is heavy foot traffic, bicycle, and/or scooter traffic while children go to and return from school. In the process of our multiple community gatherings and discussions with Ray Ricchi, we asked for guidance on how to resolve the speed issue and ensure the safety of our children. Neighbors had appealed to the City Council before so we knew this would be no easy battle and we wanted to be prepared.

I personally appealed to the council from a safety aspect because my then six year old and four year old both travel to and from school primarily on bike. As a former EMT, I asked the council if they had ever had to arrive on the scene and find someone dead on arrival, if they’d witnessed what a corpse looked like after a motorcycle was hit by a car, and to consider how much worse a child would suffer as a pedestrian involved in a MVA. I'm a transplant from Fairfax County, Virginia, and our government was much more responsive to the type of plea we – residents of Berkshire Road - were making to the council and I pointed this out.

I pointed out that we had speed bumps and this never deterred our emergency vehicle response time. We've suggested speed bumps and the Council turned that down because it would create an issue for emergency vehicles. We asked them to block our street since it feeds to many other neighborhoods and we are used as a cut-through, again we met with resistance. We asked them to reduce the speed limit and even cited laws that had been passed and funding that would be available to help with making those changes to our road - again we met with resistance. We have sat out in chairs with radar guns and clocked cars coming through in excess of 45 miles per hour - yet we cannot get the City to help in our cause to protect our children.

In the conclusion of my plea to the City Council I told them that the life of one child was too much to ask before they made a change and that I didn't want it to be my neighbor's children nor mine. Tuesday, a child was hit and air-lifted out. Berkshire Road West of Ridge was blocked off by a motorcycle policeman and a public safety unit truck. I was forced to drive down Ridge Road and then Eldorado to pick my son up from Wolford Elementary – not enough time to go on foot this route. As I pulled up, the helicopter was taking off. The news everywhere was a child had been hit. This news was confirmed by neighbors in speaking with individuals from Wolford where our children attend.

My plea and the pleas of my neighbors went unheard and tonight we all are angry and saddened because this was an unnecessary incident that could have potentially been prevented if the McKinney City Council had taken our pleas seriously. Our community has come together on this issue because those with children and even those without want all pedestrians and cyclists to be safe. Tuesday night, I sat in my car while a suburban passed by going so fast it had traveled the length of five homes before I could begin blaring my horn in an attempt to get them to slow down – they never even tapped the brakes. The same issues we've pointed out to the City Council need to be highlighted in hopes that another child is not injured.

This article was submitted by a member of the Pegasus News community.