Chesapeake to adjust signs along roadway's dangerous S-curve

When I said I was going to Backwoods Road last week, I got some snickers.

Backwoods Road in Chesapeake, inches from the North Carolina line, lives up to its name. Exhibit No. 1: The peacock, colors flying at full mast, that crossed the path of Steve Knight's car.

Further evidence: The too-winding-for-cars S-curve just before Backwoods meets Ballahack Road.

Worse, Knight told The Warrior, is some confusing signage he fears will make someone careen off the aforementioned curve.

Heading north on Backwoods, about 200 feet before the curve, there's a 20 mph "curve advisory" sign. Then, there's a "reduce speed ahead" sign. And - just before the curve - there's a 35 mph sign.

Given the sequence of the signs, it seems as though that 35 mph sign trumps the 20 mph sign - not what the city intended.

If you try to negotiate that curve at 35 mph, Knight said, "You're going into the woods."

To prove the point, he approached the curve at 35 mph. I saw my life - well, the last 20 or 30 seconds of it - flash before my eyes before he hit the brakes. Point made.

In particular, he said, it's a problem for folks who don't know the road, and/or are driving at night.

Chesapeake said there have been only two accidents at the curve in three years.

Nonetheless, the city said it will swap the location of the

20 mph advisory and the 35 mph signs. Chevrons - fancy word for arrows - will also be installed at the curve.

The work will be done by July 11, the city said.

Twice last week, The Warrior came upon the after-effects of cigarettes discarded on Virginia Beach median strips.

In the dry weather we've had, it seems the cigarette butts don't accept their "litter" status without a fight. "It's never a good idea; but in dry conditions, it's a horrendous idea," said David Hutcheson, spokesman for the city fire department. He said the fire department gets three or four calls per month about burning medians.

My guess: Smokers don't imagine that flicked cigarette can ignite a brush fire. I recall the surprised smoker trying to stomp out the brush fire she'd created on Independence Boulevard.

Hutcheson called it "one of my biggest pet peeves." He even thought of submitting this to The Pilot's "Rude-O-Meter," the Daily Break feature that gauges the obnoxiousness of affronts against one's fellow man.

"Why do people think they can flick a cigarette out into the environment?" he said. "It's like nowadays, people won't use ashtrays."

Smokers, please keep your - er, butts - in the car.