The fourteen-year-old mourning community who died in jargon does not hide its anger: the boy was killed by the indifference of officials

A fourteen-year-old boy was killed at a dangerous intersection Tuesday morning. Parents sent the child to school on a scooter because “Car Free Day” was announced. While trying to cross the main road to enter the walking and biking trail, the boy came across a pickup truck. The blow was fatal.

A resident of the jargon community says the tragedy reveals officials’ reluctance to see that dangerous intersections are not just near schools, as a pedestrian and bicycle lane has been built in town on only one side of road. The teenager was forced to cross the street because otherwise he would not have got on the bike path. At the site of the crosswalk tragedy, people had been asking questions for years, but according to the jargon of the people, they had left nothing behind.

Dangerous places, according to the people who live nearby, neither one nor two.

“We are not fighting for road safety for ourselves and our children on the first day. Just as the child’s parents asked for a crosswalk, we also asked for fences so that all-terrain vehicles do not circulate on the sidewalks, so that bicyclists (including the scooters) stopped and got off before crossing the street, says one of the grieving teenage community members. “The commuters are completely spit on, they just blamed the police, which is completely absurd.”

Aivaras Vilkelis, the current head of the Department of Innovation and Planning of Transport Infrastructure of the Lithuanian Highway Administration, signed one of these letters to the effect that a place dangerous in the eyes of people does not represent a danger.

After the tragedy, according to the representatives of the Road Administration, the crossings still cannot be classified as extremely dangerous, since, according to their data, only one traffic accident has been registered in this place in four years, in which people were injured or deceased. In addition, according to A. Vilkelis, of the request of the Slengiai community for the construction of a pedestrian crossing, specifically at the site of the traffic accident (state road No. 2216 Slengiai-Baukštininkai approximately 0.4 km at the intersection of Smeltaitės and Bertuliškės streets), there is no received.

“On the contrary, we had received requests from residents (the Trušeliai community requested) to remove the speed reduction hills in the section from 0.22 to 2.69 km, but the SE Lithuania Highway Administration refused to do it to ensure traffic safety. On the section of the accident site, there are raised buffers (about 130 m from the accident site) and a pedestrian and bicycle lane has been built along the road. A crosswalk is installed next to the school with the highest concentration of pedestrians.

According to the Lithuanian Highway Administration, the location of the traffic accident at the intersection of Smeltaitės and Bertuliškės streets does not differ, the visibility conditions are guaranteed, the driving speed is controlled by speed-reducing hills. During the last four years, there have been no recordable traffic accidents on the stretch of road mentioned in Slengiai ”, she explained why there is still no pedestrian crossing in the dangerous place named by the people.

SE The Lithuanian Highway Administration indicates that in each case, after receiving the request from the population, it examines the situation at the specified place (section), assesses the level of development of infrastructure, the traffic safety situation, the geometric parameters of the road, the development of the surrounding areas and traction centers, the traffic safety equipment applicable road safety requirements (in accordance with the recommendations for the design and use of engineering road safety measures).

The representative who presented the response to A. Vilkelis points out that in addition to the aforementioned request, a request signed by an individual regarding the installation of a pedestrian crossing on another regional road no. 2216 Slengiai-Baukštininkai on site (approximately 2.48 km, at the intersection of Smeltaitės and Palivarko streets in the village of Klemiškės II).

“An individual has also requested the installation of a lane for pedestrians and bicycles on state road No. 2216 on the Slengiai-Baukštininkai section from 3.34 to 4.54 km and a private individual has also requested the lighting of the highway crossing. State No. 2216 Slengiai-Baukštininkai 0.795 km (near the school). As the applications are signed by individuals, it is not possible to identify whether they belong to the Slengiai community, ”explains A. Vilkelis.

According to data from the Lithuanian Southeast Highway Administration, no other inquiries or requests have been received regarding the road where the accident took place (regional road No. 2216 Slengiai-Baukštininkai) during the last three years.

It is true that the safety of the road was requested by the people of the settlement in the country. The Sendvaris leadership, on behalf of the residents of the Ginduliai village, requested the installation of protective road repairs on the Klaipėda – Radailiai – Kretinga highway. People say that this would force cyclists to get off the bike and ride on the road instead of riding a bike, it would be inconvenient to enrage the quads as well, but these requests for additional safety were also rejected.

SE Lithuania Road Administration reports that it maintains 21,000 km of state roads, where road safety measures are gradually being implemented. First, by improving infrastructure and ensuring traffic safety in the most dangerous places or sections.

To address infrastructure improvement issues and ensure traffic safety, SE SE Road Administration has signed cooperation agreements with the Klaipėda District Municipality, the implementation of which will also solve some problems caused by Klaipėda District residents.

2020 September. According to the data, SE Lithuania Road Administration has signed the following cooperation agreements with the Klaipėda district municipality:

Regarding the regional road no. 2212 Klaipėda – Radailiai – Kretinga from 4,278 to 10,855 km major repairs (Slengiai, Rasytės and Šimkų streets, roads, bus stops, lighting).
Regarding the regional road no. 2217 Klaipėda – Karklė – Dargužiai Review of the 6,870 km flyover (Kukuliškiai, Pasakos street, pedestrian crossing, paths, flyover)

Regarding the regional highway no. 2203 Reconstruction of the Dituva – Priekulė – Dreižiai section from 3,451 to 5,759 km (Priekulė).
Regarding state highway no. 228 Overhaul of the Dauparai – Gargždai – Vėžaičiai section from 7,300 to 7,600 km (Gargždai, Tilto street, pedestrian paths, lighting, road repair).

Regarding state highway no. 216 Revision of the section Gargždai – Kretinga from 0.000 to 1.934 km (Gargždai, pedestrian and bicycle lane in Kretinga square).

Regarding state highway no. 168 Revision of the section Klaipėda – Kretinga from 14,253 to 15,577 km (Kretingalė, Klaipėdos street, trails, lighting, road repair).
Regarding the regional highway no. 2202 Klaipėda Review – Veiviržėnai – Endriejavas from 32,000 to 32,600 km (Veiviržėnai, Laisvės St., trails).

The mayor of the Klaipėda district, Bronius Makauskas, does not hide that the power of the municipality on the road marked by the tragedy is extremely limited.

“Of course, in response to the painful disaster, we have already taken action and are preparing to apply to LAKD with a request to consider installing a crossing. Since regional roads belonging to LAKD pose challenges, we are looking at ways to address them. One of them is the municipality’s contribution to repairing such roads on its own. In this way, LAKD places those roads at the top of its list of roads to repair. For the past six months, we have signed 8 agreements with LAKD The first works have already started: the reconstruction of Klaipėdos street is underway in Priekule, and works are also planned on other places for the elderly: Veiviržėnai, Kretingalė, Sendvaris, Gargždai.

We are also discussing the possibility of the Municipality taking over the regional roads within the settlements. Because it is necessary? Due to the stricter regulation of regional roads: the width of the roads, the distances that are not possible in some settlements due to the dense construction. The requirements for municipal roads are lower and the job is easier. And we could get the job done faster, ”says the mayor. – The road where the painful tragedy occurred, as I said, belongs to the Road Administration. So far, the municipality and the old age of Sendvaris have not received any request from residents about the installation of the crossing on this road. We have only received one request to remove speed caps in this section. However, of course, due to the greater security of the population, this request was not honored ”.