Carolina Panthers Quarterback Cam Newton fractured two bones in his back in 2014, when he was involved in a crash in one of Charlotte’s most treacherous intersections. Two years after he and hundreds of other residents called for it, it’s finally getting a traffic light.
Cam Newton was T-boned in the intersection back in December of 2014, causing his Dodge Ram to flip multiple times across the road, collapsing the roof and fracturing two bones in his back. The police report didn’t cite either Newton or the other driver for being at fault. At the time, Newton called for an overhaul of the intersection of South Church Street and West Hill Street, citing its lack of a traffic light.
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From The Charlotte Observer:
“There’s not a light there,” Newton said. “I believe there should be a light there because it’s an extreme safety hazard. … I hope that the city of Charlotte or Mecklenburg County does something about that intersection right there. It’s extremely dangerous and I would love to see something to take place right there.”
The city repainted the lines in the street and added a larger stop sign following the accident. Now, over two years later, the developer of the 10-acre lot at the intersection is fronting the cost to finally introduce a traffic light, according to the Observer.
What’s surprising about the new upgrade, to me at least, is the cost; the new light setup will cost $141,582. Considering the intersection will require multiple turn lanes and doesn’t (likely) have the electrical work to support a traffic light, the cost may not seem too expensive. I’ve just never stopped to consider how pricey something like a few red-yellow-and-green lights would cost.
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Unfortunately it’s overdue—in the Charlotte Observer’s initial accident report, it claimed the corner ranked as the fourth most likely intersection to cause a collision in Charlotte that year. The report also claimed that 15 people had been injured in collisions at that intersection between 2009 and 2014.
It took Cam ‘Active-Runner-No-Call’ Newton, NFL Quarterback, City Planner and a new $37.5 million development to finally get some work done.
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