DENVER — A compilation video of drivers plowing through a West Colfax intersection over the span of more than a year is getting a lot of attention online.
The clips show drivers clearly not paying much attention as they speed past the stop signs at West 17th Avenue and Irving Street.
"I think it's definitely unsafe," Adam Williams said.
Williams says he first started noticing the distracted and impatient drivers from his office window when he began working from home during the pandemic. The compilation includes clips as old as May 2020 and as recent as Dec. 2021.
"High speeds, high accelerations. All sorts of different behavior," Williams said.
He posted the video on Twitter recently to show the city why a protected bike lane is necessary. It got a lot of attention there and on Reddit, with people responding how confused they were watching the video.
— Adam Williams (@ACW5) March 3, 2022
"I wish I knew the answer, I can only guess," Williams said. "But I'm not sure what's going through the minds of drivers."
Denver7 shared the video with Nancy Kuhn, director of public information for Denver's Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI), and she was just as perplexed.
"Seems like people are impatient," said Kuhn. "They're passing each other then missing the stop sign. They're not adhering to the stop sign at all. They're not taking their turns."
DOTI has looked at this intersection and determined there's nothing wrong with it, Kuhn says. It has the right treatment for the number of people who come through there every day.
However, there are plans in place that may force drivers to pay more attention.
"We hope that in putting the bike lane in, we have a place that people on bikes feel comfortable riding, and then you are slowing down people in cars as they're seeing things happening," Kuhn said.
That bike lane, which should be installed later this year, won't be protected, as Williams hoped. But Kuhn is hoping it'll be reason enough for drivers to slow down and come to a stop.
