A group of Nyackers have banded together in hopes of making their neighborhood safer for children and pedestrians.

Residents living along a strip of North Midland Avenue are circulating a petition that calls for a four-way stop at the North Midland-Sixth Avenue intersection, and traffic-culling methods further down the roadway. Christina Place of 224 North Midland Avenue is leading the effort. "I sit out there and it terrifies me," Place said, noting cars whip past at "Thruway speeds." Place moved to the area four years ago and has two small children.

Place has penned a letter to the board, and is slated to appear at Thursday's board of trustees meeting. (7:30 p.m. at .) The petition and letter in their entirety are after the jump.

-- Dear Residents and Neighbors:

As a result of recent traffic accidents, excessive speeding on N. Midland Avenue and after hearing many of our fellow friends and neighbors raise concerns around pedestrian safety, we have decided that we would take the initiative on petitioning the Nyack Village Board and governing bodies to consider placement of a 4-way stop sign at the intersection of N. Midland and 6th Avenues and also introduce traffic calming measures such as speed monitors along N. Midland between Castle Heights and 5th Avenues.

We will also request that the Village support and take forward our request to the Orangetown and Clarkstown Police Departments for a stronger police presence and enforcement of traffic rules in this heavily trafficked corridor during peak traffic hours. Stop signs and speed monitors alone will not mitigate the risks of traffic accidents, and the key to making our streets and neighborhood safer is traffic rule enforcement coupled with the traffic calming measures we hope to have implemented. We have requested this issue to be placed on the agenda for discussion at the next Nyack Village Board meeting this Thursday, January 26 at 7:30 PM.

Our goal is to work with the Village and the community on coming up with a viable solution to the speeding and traffic problems on our streets without creating an impediment to traffic flow or disturbance to residents. It's become apparent that there is a shared concern among the residents and we would like to take a proactive approach to this problem. Often times it takes a community's reaction to a tragedy to take action and implement overdue safety measures as was the case in Upper Nyack. In 1999 a child was fatally struck by a car and another injured on N. Midland Avenue which resulted in stop signs being placed at the intersections of Castle Heights and Birchwood Avenues. This may have helped slow cars on this section of N. Midland, but from Castle Heights Ave to 5th Ave there is nothing to slow the traffic. In fact, we have witnessed time and time again cars accelerating between 6th and 5th Ave (drivers headed South) to make the traffic light at 5th Ave. We have also seen an equal number of "near misses" and traffic accidents at the intersection of N. Midland and 6th Ave primarily involving vehicles turning onto or crossing N. Midland at this intersection. Not only is speeding a factor, but the parked cars on either side of N. Midland limit visibility as vehicles approach the intersection at both the east and west bound directions of 6th Ave.