State may boost safety at 2 local intersections

Ohio Department of Transportation official are considering installing additional safety measures at two Mercer County intersections.

The department may add flashing lights on state Route 119 at the intersection with U.S. 127 and is considering using radar technology to help traffic flow at the intersection of U.S. 127 and U.S. 33, district highway management traffic engineer Justin Yoh said.

A recent ODOT study at the U.S. 127-state Route 119 intersection found about 57 percent of the 333 drivers counted at the intersection stopped at stop signs because of oncoming traffic. Additional drivers stopped at the signs voluntarily with no traffic approaching. About one-third - 100 drivers - either did not stop or performed a rolling stop.

"At this point we are considering additional treatments to the signs already there either by some sort of beacon or light on the stop ahead signs. The goal is to bring more attention of the intersection to the traffic on 119," he said.

Any possible changes will likely be decided upon later this month, Yoh added.

The intersection was the focus of a December 2011 ODOT study after the death of a 3-year-old Minster girl there three months earlier. The 2011 ODOT study determined traffic volume did not warrant a stoplight.

The stop signs at state Route 119 warn that cross traffic does not stop and drivers on U.S. 127 see signs warning of an upcoming intersection, Yoh said.

"From a sign standpoint, that is pretty much a max level of signage. The sign sizes are maxed out. The number of signs installed is maxed. If we're still having issues, it's probably driver inattention. That's why we're looking into installing possible flashing lights on the signs as an attempt to grab driver attention," Yoh said.

Since 2011, 13 accidents have occurred at the intersection. Two of those resulted in fatalities, in 2011 and 2012.

ODOT said six of the accidents resulted from drivers failing to yield, and failure to maintain an assured clear distance was found to be a contributing factor for another five incidents.

"For some reason drivers are pulling out in front of vehicles at that intersection. There's no sight obstruction at all. It's not like something is blocking traffic. These kinds of crashes are some of the more difficult ones to try and pin down a definitive countermeasure for. A lot with the failure to yield is what was going on in the car at the time of the crash," Yoh said.

Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey believes the U.S. 127-state Route 119 intersection is the county's most accident-filled intersection. Moeller Door and Window officials have helped by providing surveillance footage of accidents and near-misses at the intersection, he said.

The U.S. 127-U.S. 33 intersection was the site of 19 vehicle accidents from 2011-2013, the most recent statistics available. None of those accidents was fatal.

The intersection has a traffic signal that is triggered when a vehicle is at the light. Both highways have yellow warning signs as vehicles approach the intersection.

Grey believes the traffic light has led some drivers to speed up to make the green light or hit the brakes hard to stop at a red light.

Those instances lead to accidents involving failure to maintain assured clear distance ahead, he said.

ODOT officials are looking to upgrade the current signal by adding a radar detection system.

"It's like a radar unit and it's a better way of detecting vehicles, vehicles approaching the intersection. It can track the speed of the vehicle approaching the intersection and extend the green (light)," he said.

The new system would allow the light to stay green for any vehicle within 450 feet of the intersection. That should reduce the number of collisions and optimize traffic flow, he said.

ODOT district officials will apply for a safety funding grant in the fall to help fund the new system. However, the improvements may take a few years if officials receive the grant, he said.

"It's not a guarantee that the improvement will be made but we will be applying for funding," Yoh said.

ODOT officials will continue to monitor the intersection, he added.

Costs and installation dates for the proposed improvements were not yet available.

"Signs, we can install much faster than let's say a traffic light or highway light. A lot has to do with wait time and how fast we can order them," Yoh said.