A month after Tinley Park resident Donna LePinske raised concern about dangerous driving on her street at a village meeting, she returned to the public comment podium in last month with reassurance.
She said that besides a tree in her front yard that was taken down, which she said was the main barrier between her house and the cars zipping by, she has felt safer.
Her neighborhood, along 167th Street, is known for having a high rate of car crashes due to the curve of the road and speeding motorists. But LePinske said conditions recently improved, and credits this to a new lighted stop sign along with increased police presence.
“The police presence has definitely been noticed,” LePinske told village officials. “We did get the flashing stop sign, and I think when people are coming around that curb right now, they’re thinking that there’s something going on that corner because it’s flashing now, so once they get used to it, I don’t know.”
Tinley Park Mayor Michael Glotz said after LePinske and four of her neighbors demanded solutions at a September Village Board meeting, he met with them and asked the Public Works and Police Department to start working on solutions.
The residents proposed landscape barriers, signs with flashing lights on the road curve, a pedestrian walkway and other traffic calming measures recommended by an engineering expert.
The village engineer conducted a traffic study and recommended potential solutions. They included adding some sort of raised surface on the road such as speed table, speed hump or speed bump; extending the curb to narrow the roadway; adding a series of alternating curves using curb extensions; and adding a median landscaped with trees and dense bushes that would shift traffic to outside lanes and provide pedestrian crossing safety.
Brian McDermott, deputy chief of operations for the Police Department, said that his department worked with the mayor’s office and residents to identify other long-term solutions. These possible solutions include speed humps, guardrails, stop signs and speed cameras.
Each of these options are somewhat limited due to state law, roadway design standards and safety considerations.
McDermott also said over the past three months, officers conducted dozens of targeted safety missions, resulting in a 43% increase in traffic stops.
“Their consistent presence, attention to detail and willingness to adjust their patrol strategies demonstrate a level of professionalism and dedication that often goes unseen,” McDermott said.
He said the department responds to speeding complaints, not only on 167th Street but throughout the entire village, by conducting daily directed patrols and traffic safety missions focused on areas where the complaints originate and where there is a history of crashes.
He said 167th Street from Harlem to 84th Avenue has been a primary focus because it includes several curves where drivers tend to speed. He said the street was the site of two recent collisions resulting in numerous complaints: one related to a medical incident and the other a drunken-driving crash that resulted in an arrest.
LePinske said in November she and her neighbors still want more safety around the sharp curve.
Glotz said once the village is closer to finalizing plans for traffic calming measures, he would like to meet with the residents and make sure they’re on board. He said that meeting would take place sometime around January.
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