{"id":813,"date":"2011-11-20T11:46:29","date_gmt":"2011-11-20T16:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/?p=813"},"modified":"2011-11-20T11:46:29","modified_gmt":"2011-11-20T16:46:29","slug":"obx-residents-safe-zone-for-beach-road-unsafe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/?p=813","title":{"rendered":"OBX Residents: “Safe Zone” For Beach Road Unsafe"},"content":{"rendered":"
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OBX residents: \u2018Safe zone\u2019 for beach road unsafe<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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By Cindy Beamon<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Daily Advance<\/p>\n

Saturday, November 19, 2011<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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CAROVA BEACH \u2014 Residents on the Currituck Outer Banks say creating a \u201csafe zone\u201d to veer off-road traffic away from the shoreline will be anything but safe.<\/p>\n

The idea of a safe zone sounds good, admits Lynne Wilson, one of 30 off-road residents who met to discuss the proposal last week at the Carova Fire and Rescue station. But residents who drive the beach daily know it will not work, she said. A vote by show of hands indicated the entire group agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cForcing vehicles to drive along the dune line is a nightmare solution,\u201d said off-road residents Cheryl and Robert Ford. \u201cNot only does it guarantee absolute gridlock for everyone … but it is also damaging to the fragile environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Residents say creating the safe zone will steer traffic to soft, deep sand near the dunes. They predict inexperienced drivers will get stuck and cause a chain reaction as vehicles following behind lose traction when forced to stop. They say not only will traffic back up, but response times for emergency vehicles will suffer.<\/p>\n

Donnie Tadlock of Carova Fire and Rescue said most accidents already happen near the dune line. In one case, a person got stuck in the soft sand and was injured as another vehicle circled around.<\/p>\n

The safe zone is one of several changes being considered by Currituck commissioners to relieve heavy traffic and safety concerns on crowded off-road beaches during the height of tourist season. The safe zone would steer traffic away from one or two miles of shoreline so beach-goers do not have to cross traffic to swim.<\/p>\n

Under present conditions, traffic on the 11-mile stretch of beach travels hard-packed sand near the foreshore and softer sand along the dune line while vehicles park in between. Sunbathers going for a swim have to cross traffic to reach the water.<\/p>\n

Residents said the change in traffic pattern will not solve the problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is the volume of cars,\u201d said Marie Long, who lives at Milepost 14.5, a location suggested for the proposed safe zone.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s counted 200 tightly packed vehicles lining less than a mile of beach in July. That many cars makes it difficult for residents, and even those who rent beach homes, to access the beach, which should be their right, she said.<\/p>\n

Long said watching vehicles from her oceanfront home would convince anyone that redirecting traffic near the dune line would be a disaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll you have to do is see it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Long said the gridlock could cause motorists to damage dunes as they try to veer around traffic.<\/p>\n

The residents said rather than creating a safe zone, the county should focus on two other solutions. One would be stricter enforcement of existing rules.<\/p>\n

The county ordinance states that lawn chairs, coolers, fishing lines and people cannot block traffic driving on the foreshore.<\/p>\n

Rufus Baldwin said beach-goers set up \u201ctent cities\u201d and other obstacles that block traffic, but the law is not always enforced. Instead, beach-goers wave him to go around or yell when he drives along the shoreline on his way home.<\/p>\n

Rusty Thrasher said he was threatened after his radio antenna snagged a fishing line straddling the beach road.<\/p>\n

\u201cWord has gotten out they don\u2019t have to follow the rules,\u201d Long said of beach-goers.<\/p>\n

The other solution suggested by residents \u2014 a permit system \u2014 has drawn the most criticism from some<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OBX residents: \u2018Safe zone\u2019 for beach road unsafe By Cindy Beamon The Daily Advance Saturday, November 19, 2011 CAROVA BEACH \u2014 Residents on the Currituck Outer Banks say creating a \u201csafe zone\u201d to veer off-road traffic away from the shoreline will be anything but safe. The idea of a safe zone sounds good, admits Lynne […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=813"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":869,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813\/revisions\/869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}