Everyday, fender benders and serious accidents happen in obscurity all across the city. But - one thing you can be sure of - if it happens beneath our studio at the corner of Dean and Albert - it's going to make the news.
In fact, a police patrol which recently knocked down one of their own actually lied about where the collision happened - likely just so that no one would come to our studio looking for footage which showed that they were in the wrong.
And while there's no reason to stop and freeze in the middle of the street as they did - could a pair of pretty planters be contributing to the collisions? Jomarie Lanza tried to get an answer:
The corner of Albert and Dean street might be considered one of the unluckiest junctions in the city not only because of the number of accidents witnessed there, but also because any accident that happens there is sure to make it on the news. But a part of the reason for these many accidents may be when you pull up at the corner this is what you see: the festoon of 2 large planters which - while quite lovely - partially obscure the view of oncoming traffic. It is something the city has been looking at.
Eluide Miller, Deputy Mayor, CITCO
"Our team has been monitoring the area of course and we have also received a number of direct feedback from motorists in the area as well as those who live in the area as well. One of the major issues that have been raised is the visibility challenges particularly due to a planter that is located near the intersection no so we are fully aware of that as well but our review also shows that not really a multifaceted issue, that is not the only issue. Then there is a number of issues that have been contributing to these incidents including the failure to comply with the stop sign at the corner of Dean street, before crossing the intersection and this is of course a basic but very critical traffic requirement in addition to that we have also observed that there is speeding involved, speeding by vehicles particularly those coming down Albert Street I think that was obvious in a number of the incidents, the recordings that have been shown that people coming down Albert Street they tend to speed through or pass that intersection which is of course dangerous and so we have identified that as well. As a council we have to really look at it comprehensively and of course we believe in balancing the safety with the beautification of the city as well while some may say it is as easy as removing the planter to allow for better visibility we are looking at that as an option but as I said we want to look at it comprehensively and so we have discussed it with our traffic management committee and with our works team to do a comprehensive review of the area and to really determine whether trimming or redesigning the planter would help improve visibility in the immediate area."
But rather than simply removing it, Miller says the council is looking at what he calls "smart technology."
Eluide Miller, Deputy Mayor, CITCO
"I mean that would be the easiest thing to do to just uproot the planter and move it out but we want to look at it a bit more comprehensively than that we have been looking at a number of key intersections across the city and look at how we could address it with the use of smart technologies as well I think, one of those intersections was the one at dame Minita gordon drive and king street, and we implemented a traffic lighting system there which has been working well now."
"I would say within next week I will do some follow up with our team I know we had some discussion on it recently however I was away for a bit on travels however I will do some follow up with our technical team to see exactly what it is they recommend and then we will go from there."
We should note that accidents have been happening at the corner for decades while the planters only went up a few years ago.
