After fatal crash, dad calls for changes

Ed Koch and Jace Radke

Wednesday, Sept. 22, 1999 | 11:48 a.m.

The father of a 17-year-old motorist who crashed into a tree en route to school last week is asking Clark County to put a stop sign at that intersection to try to slow traffic on the residential road and save the lives of others.

"It's too late for my son, but if I can prevent someone else's child from being killed in that area, I will do it," Ned Barnett said.

His son, John David Barnett, 17, and a 16-year-old passenger, Stephen Schkurman, both members of the Las Vegas High School band, were killed Friday morning when Barnett's Ford Taurus station wagon slammed into a tree at 4667 E. Wyoming Ave.

Metro Police say excessive speed is believed to have led to the crash.

Ned Barnett said Tuesday he will write letters to the Clark County Commission, Las Vegas High, the office of the superintendent of schools and others to try to have a stop sign installed at Arden Street and Wyoming.

"I went to the crash site yesterday (Monday) afternoon to try to figure out for myself what happened, and while I was there, at least 50 cars went through the intersection at 50-60 mph," Barnett said.

"There were small children playing football in a yard. One of them ran into the road after the ball without even looking. If a car had been speeding through, that child could have been hit. The sad thing is that changes often are not made until we have a tragedy. Well, now we have a body count."

Herbert Arnold, a Clark County traffic manager, says that the county takes requests for stop signs as they come in.

"We get tons of requests for speed zones, school zones, traffic signals, stop sign, crosswalks and anything else you can think of," Arnold said. "We look at each one and determine what is needed to make that stretch of road safe."

Arnold said that when Barnett's request comes in it will be looked at like any other request.

"We look at them all on a first come first serve basis," Arnold said. "If it's determined a stop sign is needed one will be put up, but we don't know if that would have stopped the accident."

Barnett said he encourages residents in the area to petition for the stop sign, using his son's death and the death of his son's friend to convince county officials of the serious need to install a stop sign at Arden and Wyoming.

Barnett said that while the 25 mph posted speed limit seems to be proper for that street, he argues that without a stop sign, people won't slow down.

"Kids without much driving experience speed, and adults with years of driving experience speed," Barnett said. "But while many people disregard speed limit signs few people deliberately ignore stop signs and blow through them."

A stop sign at Arden and Wyoming would, if nothing else, force drivers to decelerate in an area where they now are accelerating to speeds that can be deadly for both motorists and pedestrians, Barnett said.

John Barnett got his driver's license just eight days before the accident, his father said.

Metro Police believe excessive speed caused Barnett to lose control of the car after he passed through the intersection. The boys were en route to an early morning band practice. One witness said the car appeared to be going as fast as 60 mph on the 25 mph roadway.

After the accident, teenage classmates of the dead boys erected a monument around the mulberry tree into which the car crashed. One message read: "Please slow down so you can grow up."