Description

The last two houses on Gull Ave in the direction towards E. Hillsdale/Beach Park always have vehicles parked in front at the curb. While there is nothing illegal about this, it does create a dangerous traffic hazard for all inbound/outbound vehicles on Gull (as well as for the residents' vehicles). With parents rushing to get their children to school at Audubon, to Kids Connection, or to work, it's not uncommon for vehicles to be speeding on Gull, faster than 30 mph. Any vehicles parked on the street at this location create an accident waiting to happen.

In the outbound direction, where the street curves to the right, it's a driver's natural inclination to hug the inner side of the curve- this is where the residents' vehicles are parked. Conversely, if that outbound driver tries to ignore this muscle tendancy, they would be drifting towards the middle of the street, with inbound vehicles on the driver's side. The presence of these parked vehicles pinches the width of the 2-way street.

These conditions could very easily lead to the following:
A) a head on collision between inbound/outbound vehicles.
B) Inbound/outbound vehicles side swipe one of the residents' parked vehicles.

A safe solution to this would be to consider making the stretch of curb from 731 Gull Ave to the end of the block at Crane Ave, a red/no parking zone (only one side of Gull Ave.) While this does create an inconvenience for the residents of the surrounding houses, it's certainly a preferable scenario to a parked vehicle-collision, or a scenario where a resident vehicle is backing out of the driveway and is T-boned by an unobservant driver on Gull Ave. In each scenario, both the driver and the resident lose.

While I am positive the residents of these houses would not appreciate this suggestion, I am only looking out for the good of the overall neighborhood. During morning drop off hours, I have seen far too many inbound/outbound vehicles nearly side swipe each other in the middle of the street, as they negotiate the narrow opening. Reove parked cars on the outbound side of the street and the chance of this happening drops significantly.