Changes need to be made to Irvine Avenue

It is the law breaker and speeder on Irvine Avenue that is the

danger, but it is our governmental leader’s responsibility to slow

them down as much as possible in order to protect their passengers

and other travelers. Travel the length of Irvine Avenue at the posted

speed limit and count the number of cars that pass you. It will be

painfully clear that too few drivers remember the lessons that Jason

Rausch highlighted nearly six years ago as he speed down Irvine

Avenue, changing the path of so many lives and taking my son Donny’s

life. Speed kills on Irvine Avenue, and last week it killed again.

We do not have to have a “Dead Man’s Curve” in our community. For

at least the last six years, many have known that speed is the danger

on Irvine Avenue. We have known that that the results are

horrifically tragic, and that it was just a matter of time before

another person died on this roadway.

Despite this, our leaders have not done all that could be done to

protect our community from the known danger. Our representatives have

failed to make simple cost-effective changes to remind the speeders

of what they are doing at the moment.

We do not have to “straighten the roadway” to cause change. We

need at least one more speed-control signal on Irvine Avenue; two

would be better. A permanent devise showing the speed of the traveler

has proved to be effective in other communities. Regular and visible

police speed patrols on the curves would slow some travelers.

Improved signage can be done; more flashing lights and bigger and

brighter signs can be added with little expense. We need to think

outside the box, maybe re-naming the street, as a reminder of those

who have died there would catch the attention of some.

Not all will head the warnings, and admittedly, maybe even these

changes would not have prevented the death of my son and Susan

Rausch. But isn’t the possibility of one less person with brain

damage, one life spared, one less set of screeching tires heard by a

sleeping parent living on Irvine Avenue worth the minimal cost of

these suggested changes?

I am just one person living in this community; I do not have the

power or position to bring about these changes. I have tried and

failed. However, our elected leaders can change the path of lives yet

damaged. If there are changes to “Dead Man’s Curve,” we will never

know the name of the person whose life was saved, but maybe it will a

be child with a gentle spirit who loves Newport Beach like Donny did.

Isn’t it time?

* EDITOR’S NOTE: Vickie Bridgman is a resident of Newport Beach.

Her son, Donny, was killed in a May 1997 accident involving Newport

Harbor High students in a Chevy Blazer.