It’s a phenomenon I witnessed at the same spot (the corner of Merril Road and Market Street in the Allwood section) on two separate occasions, a good fifty-plus years apart.
The first time, I was standing at the westernmost corner of this little crossing, working my ‘post’ as a patrol, making sure my fellow students crossed the corner without incident on their way to school #9. The second time was a half hour ago. In both instances I watched in complete shock as a woman steered her car (and I’m not being sexist here; it was indeed a woman driver each time) down the wrong way of this one-way street.
Yes, I do walk down Market often, but other than these two times, I have not witnessed any other odd Market Street motoring, nor have I heard of all that many traffic mishaps on this street I so love. So, although I was slightly taken aback by both the driver’s nonchalance this day, as I was fifty years ago, and even though I was just remarking to my dear old pop of that “time that lady drove the wrong way down that street,” as I drove past Merrill with him two days ago, I’d say on the law of averages, drivers around Allwood way seem pretty ok.
Which is saying a lot for a street in New Jersey, that’s for sure.
Ok, I still turn beet red when I watch one of my neighbors unable to negotiate the traffic islands in the middle of Allwood Road, as in, which side of that little open crossing area one is supposed to occupy depending on how one drives into them. And I’m not so very thrilled seeing how some people speed down Allwood Road. But generally, the main roads on my side of town are relatively safe, considering how tightly populated we are here.
Hear me clearly: the traffic around this end of town can be brutal. And what they did to my dearly departed simple Allwood Circle, for what they have now, is an abomination to be sure. And trying to execute a K turn down any of the dead-end streets abutting Rte. 3 that make up lots of my neighborhood is a Herculean task. I’m not saying, by any means, that things are peachy keen here for drivers. But for the most part, from what I see on a semi-regular basis, I think we’re doing ok.
Well, so far…
