The tragic death of a pedestrian at the Brooks-South Higgins Y-intersection saddens but doesn't surprise me. This intersection is dangerous and inadequately controlled.

I routinely cross there, with the walk signal, and drivers frequently cut me off illegally. I recently had one woman miss me by a foot. A block north, the Higgins-Sixth Street corner is likewise dangerous, as drivers fail to stop before turning right on red. At the Y-intersection, drivers often barely slow down while turning off of Higgins onto Brooks. The main danger is often not the driver cutting you off, but in being set up to be hit by the driver behind, who may not see you in time.

A further danger at the Y-intersection involves drivers speeding through yellow or even red lights onto Higgins from Brooks, where they must immediately hit the brakes to make the curve. It wasn't in the Missoulian, but just one week before this death, a vehicle, likely speeding through the light, lost control and flipped upside down, jumping the curb and sliding to a stop on the sidewalk next to Hellgate High School. You can see the school tree that's debarked at the lower end. If pedestrians, often large groups of students, had been on the walk, there could have been multiple casualties. I regularly witness vehicles, including large semi-trucks, speeding to 'make' that light.

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The city needs better control of these intersections to enforce the law and keep us safe.

Ron Scholl,

Missoula