East bound approach from Mannheim Road to Irving Park and Scott Street intersection (Above)

West Bound from 25th Avenue  approach to Irving Park Road and Scott Street intersection  (Above)

Scott and Irving is a major street crossing used by Schiller Park residents  going to and from the pool all summer and to a lesser extent numerous pedestrians cross there on a daily basis the remainder of the year.

The crossing is unmarked and does not comply with IDOT regulations because there is no continuation of sidewalk from one side of Irving Park Road to the other side;  the crossing provides no continuity for the pedestrians.

The intersection is at a location where drivers going east bound on Irving Park Road are reducing speed from 40 mph to 35 mph;  while west bound traffic is being permitted to accelerate from 35 mph to 40 mph with many cars accelerating to merge on to the northbound TriState 294.

Eastbound traffic is distracted by the traffic lights at Judd and  Irving just a half a block from pedestrians crossing at Scott and westbound traffic attention is drawn to the traffic light overlooking the pedestrians crossing at Scott Street.

East and west bound on  traffic on Irving Park road have no regulatory signs warning of pedestrians crossing at Scott and Irving, let alone vehicular cross traffic.

Easily east and west bound traffic on Irving Park Road are usually operating at a minimum 10 mph over the speed limit;  meaning pedestrians are easily facing at times 55 mph traffic as they attempt to cross Irving Park Road.

Drivers are warned about the cemetery entrance and the divided highway ahead;  but drivers are not warned about pedestrians.

There are marked crossings at Stalica Park and at the Recreation Center BUT NOT at Scott and Irving.

Scott and Irving has seen a number traffic accidents each year, with some having resulted in serious injuries and fatalities, but little has been done to identify the crossing and warn drivers of pedestrians.

The Village provides a crossing guard most of the time that the Montana Water Park and Memorial Pool is open.  But the Village employee faces the same disadvantages that the pedestrians encounter.

I personally was hit twice while crossing children in the 1970’s and ironically hit again in 2014 as I tried to divert a car from hitting a mother crossing with her children.  As circumstances would be had no drivers license and left the scene only to be apprehended later.

The deficiencies are as unfair to the drivers as they are dangerous to the pedestrians.

What remains confounding is the outrage and pursuit of concerns regarding flashing stop signs around the schools, that have no accidents and no injuries reported at Village Board meetings and school board meetings; but the SD81 and Schiller Park have allocated thousands of dollars in grant funds for flashing stop signs.  Yet there is no mention or pursuit by anyone to improve the safety at Scott St and Irving Park Road.

What will it take to engage the full participation of the elected officials, school district and Village administrative staff and residents to pursue a responsible safety solution at this intersection.  So far it has been almost 50 years since the pool was opened and no one has provided the leadership to resolve this safety quagmire.

But yet the bickering continues over flashing red stop signs at intersections near the schools.  Let’s move on address an intersection which children are crossing a highway with cars traveling at 55 mph, with no marked intersection and no regulatory signs warning the drivers of pedestrians.

These conditions at the intersection on a daily basis threaten the lives of our residents;  and place unsuspecting motorists in an awful position which could result in a life altering tragedy for the driver.