Woman launches petition for change at Palm Springs intersection

Carolina De La Torre works at La Perlita Mexican Restaurant down the road from the intersection of Crossley Road and Dinah Shore. She said it’s frustrating seeing crashes there almost every month.

De La Torre wants the city to do something about it, especially after 63-year-old Kim Peckham was killed in a crash April 27 when a motorcyclist slammed into the passenger side of the car where Peckham was sitting.

De La Torre launched an online petition to change the Dinah Shore and Crossley Road light from yield to an arrow only.

“I want to add turn signals from east and west lanes because it’s like a blind intersection,” she said.
“You can’t see the traffic coming from in front of you because the car in front of you blocks that. So when people go to yield, they don’t see the traffic, they take it, but if a car is coming at a high rate of speed they’re not going to be able to see.”

Palm Springs Assistant City Manager Marcus Fuller said the signals used to be left turn arrows until drivers complained about the unnecessary wait times at night on the empty road.

Fuller said there have been about 22 crashes reported there since 2009, two of them were deadly.

“Most of these accidents have been because of unsafe speed,” Fuller said. “The signal is not the problem, it’s poor driver behavior.”

We sent the online petition to the city. Fuller said city leaders will look at it and consider it. Depending on the cost to modify the signal lights, the changes would need approval by the City Council, which could take six months to a year to go into effect.

“The fact that we put protected left turn phasing, which is what I believe what the petition is asking for, is not necessarily going to cure poor driver behavior and accidents unfortunately may still occur,” said Fuller.

To view or sign the petition, visit change.org