Perils plague Placentia Avenue

Submitted by Nicky Fleming

Years ago, whizzing through the light just in front of Hoag to avoid an elderly man in an oversized Cadillac, I caught sight of the Placentia sign and my first thought was, ‘it gave me life, it’s going to darn well take it away again!”

Now I drive up and down Placentia every day to and from work. I find myself always looking at the little homes opposite the elementary school between Victoria and Wilson and think how precarious they are. Endless lines of mothers pushing strollers almost as big as they are from Wilson Elementary, babies in the strollers, hanging off the strollers and dawdling behind. In the mornings there is a very brave traffic guard controlling the cars and the masses but in the evening, when people are in a rush to get home, that intersection and the apartments that border it, stand courageously, enveloping the families that live within their walls.

It would only take one car skidding off the road to do untold damage. I remember looking at a house for sale on Irvine Blvd a few years back. While I was becoming quite enthused about the house, my realtor told me that a truck had crashed into the house and it had been rebuilt. She reminded me of this and veered me in a different direction.

I remember that when now, with the time change it is dark when I go home and I can look into the apartments more easily as I wait for the light to change. Last night there were 5 people hovering in the tiny kitchen around the stove, while at the dining table of the same apartment, three men were sitting down eating. In that apartment of no more than 560 square feet, there were 8 people evident to me. 8 people who could be wiped out by one out of control car.

In that same area you are best to avoid driving in the right hand lane. Cars needing to turn off to get to the parking that pertain to those apartments stop abruptly and it is only by sheer luck I haven’t rear ended someone or them me. No wonder there is a fire station just a few yards further north!