Haverhill man installs security camera at 'aggravating' intersection

HAVERHILL, Mass. — A Haverhill man is frustrated by all the drivers breaking the law outside his house.

He recently installed security cameras to catch the many drivers who fail to stop at the stop sign off the I-495 ramp just behind his home.

In the short time Boston 25 News was there Monday, we witnessed car after car blowing through the stop sign. And at one point we even saw a car get rear ended.

It’s something Henry Schlothan says happens all the time.

"There’s one to two every week maybe," he said.

Schlothan says he witnesses collisions every week right outside his house in Haverhill. He says the problem is so many drivers don’t actually stop at the stop signs while coming off the ramp from I-495 onto Main Street.

"Quite frequently, we hear the crash and whether it’s me or my son -- who is an EMT -- we come out and make sure everyone’s okay," He explained. "We call the police for them and they usually respond with: 'wow, this is a dangerous intersection.' And we agree."

As a firefighter, he’s used to responding to car accidents, but he says it’s frustrating to see them happening in the same place over and over again. A few years ago his son was a victim in one of these crashes as he was turning into their driveway.

"T-boned him through the truck up, against the wall, totaled the truck and then ended up on the next street," Schlothan said.

That’s why he just installed security cameras a few weeks ago. And so far, he’s already caught hundreds of drivers blowing right through the stop signs from multiple angles.

Haverhill police tell us they cited 95 drivers for failing to stop at this intersection just last year.

"It’s further proof and it’s downright aggravating," Schlothan said.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation says there used to be yield signs off the ramp, but they changed them to stop signs with LED lights to increase safety. And since then, they say crashes are down by more than 50 percent.

But Schlothan says that’s not enough.

"Sometimes people say there needs to be a fatality to move things forward. Well, I don’t want to have that happen with my family or those who regularly travel these roads," he said.

Schlothan says he plans to take up this issue at a Haverhill City Council meeting soon to see if there’s anything else that can be done to make this inersection safer.

Cox Media Group