By Timothy Kays
On the afternoon of June 5, Andrea Cummins of Montpelier was northbound on County Road 13. Attempting to execute a left turn at the intersection with County Road K, she was met broadside by an eastbound vehicle on County Road K. Cummins died at the scene.
Less than 24 hours apart on July 24 and 25, the scene looked like a replay of June 5. Vehicles traveling County Road 13 failed to yield at the intersection with County Road K. The good news was that unlike the earlier accident, there were no fatalities, just EMS transports with non-life threatening injuries. One thing remains constant between all three accidents…they all happened at the intersection of County Road K and 13.
What is the cause of these collisions? Visibility? Driver error, inattentiveness or distraction? The answers to those questions are still being sought, but another has already been addressed…what can be done to prevent this? That answer has come in the form of new stop signs on County Road 13, installed by the Williams County Engineer’s Office. These signs are illuminated with attention-grabbing, flashing red LEDs, and are solar powered. Williams County Engineer Todd Roth spoke about the new signs, the ongoing investigation, and a traffic study seeking to find a way to bring the mishaps at K and 13 to a stop.
“We had the one fatal about a month ago out there,” Mr. Roth said, “…and then these two most recent. We had two sets of those lights, and we put one set up at 13 and G so we could watch it. We put it up last year and we wanted to, since it’s solar powered, make sure the batteries would stay charged. I wanted to see how much reflection was given off to the side. So we installed these there, we liked them, and so I was able to set up quickly at K. They are easy to install, solar powered, low maintenance…no maintenance. It was easy; it’s an attention getter. You’re pulling up to the intersection, fog sets in, and it’s easy to see.”
Is there any way that the intersection of K and 13 could be construed as an obstructed view crossroad? Mr. Roth didn’t think so, saying, “There’s no obstruction of view; we’ve checked it. We do the mowing as well, and from what we can see, there’s been no obstruction of view at the intersection. I can’t tell you how long it’s been since we’ve had an accident there. I can tell you one thing, I think with 107, I don’t have counts to verify this, but I would guess that with the 107 construction project, the volumes are up on both those roads. People I’m assuming are coming down 13 more, or coming across K more to avoid 107 because of the construction project.”
So would these recent accidents fall into the category of driver inattention? “Well, you’ve got to be careful saying that,” Roth answered, “…but there’s no obstruction of view. We have a stop ahead; we have stop ahead signs, stop signs. We’re going to do a safety study for that intersection. I contacted Maumee Valley Planning Organization (MVPO), Ellen Smith, and they’re going to do a safety study for us. Actually just today she sent me some traffic counts that ODOT had for those roads, so we’re going to verify some of those numbers. So they’ll evaluate the intersections and look at it in terms of crash data, and identify any possible causes or deficiencies that may exist. Roadway conditions, traffic volumes.”
“You look at volumes in terms of how many cars are trying to go north and south, versus east and west, and vehicle speeds. Then they’ll come back with recommendations and countermeasures, or this study could say you don’t need to do anything. Yeah, you know we’re all so distracted anymore. You’ve got to be careful saying that, but I thought two of them went through the stop sign. I don’t know; I haven’t seen the reports.”
Is there anything else that could be done to get a driver’s attention? “I think I did have a call from a resident,” Roth said, “…and what we’re going to look at right now while the study is been done, we can look at…flashing lights on K, with a suggested 45. I believe we have a suggested 45, but we could put lights on it so that like the stop signs, it stands out a little bit more. That’s part of it. People driving on K, they need to have a little defensive driving in them as well. So you know, if we can do some warning on K as well as the flashing stop signs on 13, maybe that’ll help. So we’re going to look at that, and see how quickly we can do something like that.”
What about installing rumble strips in the road? Would that help any? Mr. Roth answered, “You know, we could look at rumble strips on 13 but we have that flashing stop sign. Boy, I would think that if they’re even paying a little bit attention, they’re going to see that. The thing with the rumble strips is the houses on the south side there. Rumble strips are noisy; I hesitate to put those up. That’s why we went right to the flashing stops. Probably the next thing, we’ll look at some flashing caution coming on K; try to get people to pay attention to the intersection before they get to it.”
The cost of placing the illuminated signs, less the actual labor, is cheap in comparison to the potential accidents that may avert. “There were like, $1,200,” Roth said, “…I think that’s a set. Obviously, a lot more than just a stop sign and we can move them, but we’ll wait to see what happens with the safety study, and see if there’s any recommendations that come from it.”
“Yeah, you know I’ve heard a lot of different suggestions from a roundabout, to stop signs in both directions, and all kinds of things. We’ll see what comes from the numbers in this study.”
Timothy can be reached at tim@thevillagereporter.com