Update: Woman Involved in 23 Mile, Van Dyke Crash Dies

Debra October 18, 2012 at 07:01 pm

Those "Smart" traffic lights are dangerous...I could state many situations which make them a very bad idea!

Sherry Palmer Bowman October 18, 2012 at 07:06 pm

Was the 91 yr old woman the driver or passenger? I think maybe we all need to make sure the people in our lives (ESPECIALLY the older people )understand how different the new smart traffic lights are. Very sad.

Chad McKernan October 18, 2012 at 07:34 pm

The new smart traffic light systems are very confusing for most people. I would suspect even more for the elderly. We need to go back to what we had before.

Irene Peake October 18, 2012 at 09:47 pm

Those lights at 23 & Vandyke are the most stupid things I have ever seen. Most of the time they are fine, they blink yellow for the left turn then turn green. But we have had the blinking yellow turning to red while we are waiting to turn, leaving us sometime in the middle of the intersection. Whose big bright idea was it to make these lights like that!!!!! Everyone is scared to death Turn them back to the old way, PLEASE!!!!!

Misc. October 19, 2012 at 12:26 am

I'm sure the lights have nothing to do with anything. They still turn red to stop, green to go, and yellow for the same length of time between them to yield....

Jennifer Kaczmarek October 19, 2012 at 01:31 am

Common denominator here is they were old. To old to be driving in my opinion. There comes a point when you shouldn't be able to get a license any longer.

Cindy October 19, 2012 at 11:24 am

Its not that the lights are flawed...its just that people aren't use to them. When you've been driving through an intersection for more than 20 years, you know when the lights are going to change and the order in which it changes. The County changed many lights and people aren't informed or don't realize they've changed.

Anonymous October 19, 2012 at 12:01 pm

My heart goes out to this family. Coincidentally I happened to drive through when both of the accidents occured. In both cases elderly drivers were involved. In the second case (this one), I watched as another accident took place during the re-routing of vehicles at the light. Again, another elderly woman hit another driver. I watched as she exited her car (after pulling over and, once again hitting the other driver's car trying to come to a stop behind her). She was incredibly frail and could hardly walk. I know the lights are confusing, and I have nothing against the elderly (I hope to be there age someday), but I think they should maybe look at the bigger picture here - who is involved in the accidents and their driving capabilities.

Russell Morgan October 19, 2012 at 01:25 pm

The so-called smart lights make it very difficult for many drivers, including the elderly, to know when to expect changes in the signals. Many are not aware when the turn arrows are going to allow turns or if the on coming traffic is stopping when the light on your side changes.
Three times since they were installed, the ligts at 23 Mile and Mound were flashing red in all directions at 5PM, once they were completely out. The turn arrow from north bound VanDyke to west bound 23 Mile will, at times, only stay green long enough for two cars to move through the intersection. This resulted in a 15 car back-up at 4PM in the afternoon. I don't see what is so "smart" about any of this.

macombresident October 20, 2012 at 02:23 am

While I don't doubt age played a factor in these accidents, I have to agree that these new "smart" lights are dangerous. It is no coincidence that there has been a RISE in accidents at intersections where they are installed...Shelby police reports back this up. I've seen massive backups at 24 & Schoenherr since they've been put up...I've lived near this intersection for almost 16 years and have never seen traffic going north on Schoenherr backed up to almost 23 mile from 24..it's crazy. . I believe one issue (of many) is that before you knew what the light was going to do. You knew how long the cycle of the light was, particularly if you traveled the same intersections every day and could anticipate how long you had to sit & wait. Now what I've noticed is the light will turn green for one side that has a pretty huge backup and it will stay green for quite some time, which sounds good, except that there that ends up being big gaps where drivers weren't ready to go and then start trying to accelerate to "catch up", which doesn't do traffic flow any good.
I've many times personally sat at intersections where one side is green when there's no cars on that side, while the side with drivers waiting is red. Going west on 25 mile at Jewell is particularly bad, with cars backed up waiting for green to no avail. Not sure if its the slight rise in the road or what, but starting to think the cameras aren't "sensing" the cars sitting there.

Shelby Twp Resident October 20, 2012 at 10:22 pm

She was a wonderful woman who was intelligent and capable to drive. As more details come out you may find that the person who hit her was the one at fault. Don't assume anything based on age!

Former Shelby Resident October 24, 2012 at 03:54 pm

The woman may have suffered such major injuries because her car was very old, did not have airbags and the seatbelt was not functioning. It was deemed that the driver of the other vehicle was not at fault nor did he recieve a ticket.

Jerry Cavalieri November 23, 2012 at 04:19 am

It was my mom who was killed and that was on October 17th. We still wait every day for the final investigation results. How long might it be? Where is mom's car? Can anyone answer these questions for us? How about the Shelby Township Police Department?.

Marina Cracchiolo (Editor) November 24, 2012 at 04:21 pm

I am sorry for your loss, Jerry. I have not heard anything else about the crash. I will ask around. Also, what happened to your mother's car? Is it at a local junk yard?

Jerry Cavalieri November 26, 2012 at 02:22 am

Marina, Thanks for your interest and concern.

alan December 16, 2012 at 12:06 pm

The 74 year old man was my neighbor for more than forty years. He was a passenger in the car. His wife was driving and they were hit head on. She is an excellant driver. People should not assume that because someone is old that they should not be allowed to drive.What about people who cannot speak english who drive?