Cerritos Committee Recommends Traffic Study After Civic Center Accidents

The Cerritos Community Safety Committee recently approved a recommendation for the City to hire a traffic engineer because of accidents in the Cerritos Civic Center area in the last five years.

A report from the city prompted the March 30 decision, which stated that six accidents have occurred since 2006 at the Bloomfield Avenue entrance and the 183rd Street entrance to the Civic Center, with the two most recent accidents recorded this year.

Gregory Berg, director of Community and Safety Services for the City of Cerritos, told the committee that three of the collisions at the Bloomfield entrance were caused by drivers failing to stop at the red light while driving southbound and the fourth collision was caused by a driver who made a left turn on a red light exiting the Civic Center.

According to the report, the most recent accident at the Bloomfield entrance happened on February 2nd, with one injury reported.

As for the two accidents near the 183rd Street entrance, he said that both of them involved drivers failing to yield by making a left turn. The most recent accident at that entrance was on Jan. 14 in which two motorists were injured.

Berg said that when the City first implemented the traffic signals near the entrances several years ago, “hardly a day goes by seeing someone right through the red lights” because drivers weren’t used to seeing them as they approached 183rd Street coming from Bloomfield.

After Berg left it up to the committee to take further action, committee chairperson Richard Martinez said he talked to Mayor Pro Tem Jim Edwards about repainting the divider at the Civic Center’s 183rd Street entrance as one way to prevent more accidents.

“What [Edwards] is expressing concern about is that if that yellow line is faded as it is that someone turning into the Civic Center street here has a tendency to swing wide coming into the opposing traffic side of the street, it could cause an accident,” he said.

As for the Bloomfield entrance, Martinez expressed concerns of night lighting at the Civic Center and the oncoming intersection at 183rd Street while driving southbound on Bloomfield as a distraction to drivers.

“I don’t know if signage might make a difference or if it’s as good as it’s going to get, I would like for us to consider in this discussion tonight,” he said, suggesting the city place signs in the area to warn drivers of upcoming signals.

Berg recommended that the committee make a recommendation to the City Council to hire a traffic engineer to study these concerns, calling it the “logical” way of approaching this problem.

Ultimately, the committee heeded to Berg’s suggestions and approved the motion to hire the engineer and also repaint the divider at the 183rd Street entrance.

The next Cerritos Community Safety Committee meeting will be on May 18 at 7pm at the Cerritos Sheriff’s Station and Community Safety Center. For more details, call (562) 916-1266 or go to www.cerritos.us.