I never liked that intersection, and I had always been warned about how dangerous it was. Seconds before it happened, I even blurted out the words “I hate this intersection. There needs to be a light installed here,” as I turned off of 60th and 370.

Before I knew what was happening I heard the sound of metal crushing together, and I felt my body tense up in fear. I could hear my boyfriend telling me it wasn’t my fault, and we were okay.

Luck was on our side; the accident was minor. Both cars sustained damage, but nobody got extremely hurt. Everyone knows it could have been much worse than it ended up being if we had been pushed into the oncoming traffic.

Ever since then, I have been upset with the fact that there are many dangerous intersections like the one I was at, and not a lot of them are being fixed. Car accidents are a daily occurrence, so a person would assume that the city would want to limit those odds.

All it really takes is implementing a stop sign, cutting down a tree or bush, installing a light, or even putting a warning sign up by the area. It may cost a couple bucks, but money would be saved in the long run.

If there would have been a light at the intersection I was at, I wouldn’t have been rear ended and that would have ended up saving the other guy and his insurance company a lot of money.

Another key component in this whole issue is the fact that people’s lives are at stake everyday. There are situations everyday where people lose lives in car accidents. Last year 181 people died and 16,108 were injured due to a car accident according to the Nebraska Office of Highway Safety. That means, on average, 44 people were injured a day. The city could prevent this if they took a couple extra precautions at those more dangerous spots.

My experience made me realize how quickly life can be taken away, and how quickly damage can occur. It also made made me realize how dangerous driving is and how cautious people need to be. People always assume, “it will never be me. I’ll never get in an accident,” until the moment it happens.

We can make Bellevue a safer place to drive simply by fixing those dangerous intersections.

Chloe Brim
Reporter